Divinity: The Gathering: Book One (32 page)

              She was at a church, the ground had been consecrated. I could have entered the building, but my true self would have automatically been revealed, whether I was cloaked or not and she would see me as clear as day without a doubt, which was not permitted even if she could comprehend what she was seeing. Of course, her being with Drakael at the moment wouldn’t have helped things either, being that he’d instantly attempt to banish or admonish me, and wouldn’t hesitate to immediately report back, that I had broken the rules.

So I waited nearby
, and when I saw her with Drakael, it burned me with jealousy —even more so because he knew that I had been in the vicinity, and he purposefully took her up on her offer to have lunch. I didn’t know what he was trying to do or prove, but I wasn’t going to allow him to do it.

I sat in the black, two-seater, sporty luxury car that I had acquired from a local dealership, changing the plates and a few cosmetic details, and leaving them to wonder where their floor model had gone overnight without a break in.

I parked alongside the curb across the street to watch and wait, seeing Drakael and Star sitting in a booth in front of the café front wi
ndow. The restaurant was called, ‘The Purple Tomato’, it was painted in script across the window, with a magenta colored, cartoonishly drawn purple tomato in front of slatted blinds, that were raised half-way up.

She was laughing, nodding and talking with such enthusiasm, that I instantly felt jealousy rising in me again
, and I attuned my hearing to pick up their conversation before I headed inside.

There were many voices and convers
ations going on, so I had to sift and block out all the unfamiliar and annoying chatter to zone in on her voice and his. She was talking about…shadows. The shadows that she had seen and all the stuff that she wasn’t sure she could mention to me, though I knew it wasn’t her own personal choice. Drakael was pulling that trust from her, and providing the comfort she needed naturally, being what he was, but that was the last straw for me on his part.

I got out, crossed
the street and headed inside.

             
The entire restaurant and hostess took notice and stared me up and down, as if I had been a celebrity, as soon as I stepped inside and glanced around. I spotted them immediately in the booth towards the corner by the front window.

Drakael stiffened right away,
already sensing my presence and he turned around. She followed his gaze, surprised and perplexed to see me, but soon began to smile as I made my way over to their booth.

Her beautiful face and skin glowed
, unblemished, as if it had never been injured in the first place.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” She asked first.

He had healed her face essentially — completely. The bruising was barely visible if at all, and though I was grateful he had done it, it still angered me that he had been able to use his powers of healing. If that alone didn’t make her suspicious of what he was, then I don’t know what else would.

“I was in the neighborhood
, and it was a good thing, I was about to head out to see you because you left something in my cruiser,” I told her, ignoring Drakael.

She was instantly curious, “I did? What was it?” She then asked.

I produced and handed her license to her, and she reached up to take it.

“Oh, thank
— show did… I didn’t even know it was gone,” She finally said with a confused and quizzical glance up at me.

“You’re welcome.” I flashed a dazzling smile that made her blush instantly.

“Oh, this is Drake. Drake, this is Officer Cam Black. He’s the one who helped me last night,” She then introduced.

She was still dazzled by my smile
, and temporarily forgot that he was even at the table.

I gave a half smirk
, knowing Drakael was eyeing me in regard to that observation. Drakael then looked at me curiously, and cocked his head to mask his annoyance of me, almost the same way that I was disregarding him.

             
I saw her eyes dart from him to me for a moment, as she pondered something in slight confusion, I could tell by her expression.

“You did? Well, that was very generous of you Officer Black.” Drakael then said in a patronizing and sarcastic manner.

“Yeah, I thought so too, Drake.” I said, dripping his name with venom on purpose.

“Do…you two know each other?” Star then asked.

There was a brief silence as we stared each other down for a moment.

“No,” I finally said
, a little too quickly.

Drakael said nothing of course
, and he didn’t even look up at me as he sipped his tea. He couldn’t lie so he just remained silent.

She looked at the both of us for a
nother moment, puzzled as if she wasn’t sure she believed me, but chose not to say anything else about it.

“How are you doing?” I then asked her.

She smiled and brushed a spiral curl away from her face and then proceeded to place her license back into her wallet, “Better, I think a good night’s sleep is part of what I really needed and I finally got it.” She said.

She looked so beautiful with her hair
down. It was long, hanging down to her mid-back in long half wavy, half spiral curls that were full, shiny, and both brown and light brown in color, with pale blonde highlights hidden in between the strands.

She did look a hundred percent better, even her energy, mood and happ
iness were apparent. Her navy blue eyes sparkled like moonlight dancing on the ocean. I could sit and admire her all day and night long, though I hated that her complete change in appearance and mood was more than likely attributed to her being in the presence of Drakael.

“Your face looks a lot better today…that’s ama
zing.” I then noted with a quick cut of my eyes towards Drakael, and in awe of how her natural skin-tone, and the color of her kissable lips had returned to their normal gorgeous ruby red shade.

Drakael didn’t seem bothered by my accusatory glare
, and his expression remained impassive as he continued to sip on his tea.

“I know, it’s miraculous,
and I’m definitely not complaining or ungrateful.” She then said.

I nodded and smiled.

“Did you manage to find out about your car?” I then asked already knowing that there had been nothing wrong with it.

“I did, you know funny thing
— it was fine. It started right up and the tow truck driver was even nice enough to not charge for coming out too.” She said.

“Really? How odd,” Drakael noted
, cutting his eyes at me this time.

“Good, that’s great. It looks like the odds are in your favor today,” I said seeing Drakael eye me out of my periphery.

I would have done more too if I had known he was allowed to heal her.

“Well, I don’t want to interrupt. I’m just picking up something to go.” I then said.

Drakael only smiled and nodded his agreement to my statement, and it was then that I could see something else in his eyes.

It was a look that I had seen
before and knew well, and it instantly alarmed me.

“Well, would you like to join us? I mean if you don’t mind Drake?” she asked me and then beamed at him.

I held up a hand to wave off, and was almost about to decline when I saw Drakael hesitate in thought before he shifted in the booth and pulled out some money.

“I really need to be going anyway. I really e
njoyed lunch Star,” He smiled at her and pretended to check the time on his gold watch, as if he were even aware of time.

             
I knew it wasn’t a complete untruth but I didn’t care. I was elated, as I stepped back to let him through once he stood.

“Oh, well do you need a ride somewhere?” she then offered.

“No, I’ll walk. My destination isn’t far from here.” Drakael smiled at her.

I only looked at him with pursed lips.

“Well I really enjoyed lunch too. Um…do you frequent the church often?” Star asked him.

“I frequent many places nearby so I’m sure we’ll run into each other again soon. You take care of
yourself.” He smiled.

“You too, I will.” She smiled back.

Drakael moved past me with a quick glance and a look on his face that conveyed a quick message of talking to me later.

“You sure you don’t mind my company?” I raised a brow.

“Mind? Of course not,” She smiled at me.

Thank goodness the booths were oversized. I knew my knees would prob
ably lift the table from underneath if it didn’t allow more room. I sat and eased into the booth, having to shift the table forward slightly, and she helped to move it more towards her too. I slid Drakeal’s nearly empty cup of tea and his twenty dollar bill towards the edge of the table just as the young waiter approached our table with a menu for me.

I noticed that Star had a half-eaten slice of strawberry pie
, still laced with ribbons of cool whip in between, and a steaming cup of coffee in front of her.

That made me smile when I looked
across the table at her. I didn’t mean to stare at her again and seem strange, though I hoped at this point she’d be a bit more relaxed with me given the circumstances of last night.

              She eyed my tattoos in fascination again, as I pushed the sleeves of the fitted cotton shirt I wore up my forearms. Her gaze began slowly traveling up to my biceps, where our eyes met, and for some reason she instantly blushed and looked back down, picking at her pie again with her fork. I couldn’t help but grin to myself internally, knowing full well what she was admiring.

“Blue plate special is roast beef aus jus, green bean salad and fried baby potatoes. What can I get you to drink?” He asked me.

“Just water and the same thing she’s having now.” I told him with a nod to Star’s plate of strawberry pie; just so he’d leave, and he did promptly with a nod.

I wasn’t hungry
, but I’d order something just to be able to spend as much time with her as I could.

“You know, I could swear that you two knew each other
, but maybe that’s just me.” She said as she playfully eyed me —meaning to make a joke of it.

I laughed it off, “Is he a good friend of yours?” I asked.

“I actually just met him at the church a few blocks over.” She replied.

“I see. You make a habit of picking up strange men and asking them to lunch?” I joked with a smirk.

She returned the smirk.

“No, just a twist of fate I guess. We were both there
, and we got to talking about some things. I can read people pretty well. He’s a really nice, wise and friendly. I — can read you too.” She then told me on the sly in a soft tone, and then she bit her bottom lip with a half-smile when she looked at me.

I raised both brows and nodded as I sat back and returned the playful smirk, “Oh really? And what do I convey to you?” I asked
, really wanting to know, given her reaction to me in the cruiser.

I could hear her heart beat speed up at
that, with building desire that began to permeate the air between us on both our parts. What she claimed made me nervous, because if she could see the shadows that clearly, then it was only a matter of time before she would eventually see me for what I really was.

             
She studied me for a moment with scrutiny, one beautiful eye, squinting in examination, which I knew she was doing purposefully to be playful.

I noted that she had actually licked her lips seve
ral times since we had been talking.

“Well, for starters I can tell that you’re the pr
otective type given what you do for a living, and though you are a public servant…there’s something about you that almost seems—mysterious, electric and dark,” She then said.

I held my breath
when she said that.

“Dark?” I played innocent anyway.

She laughed a bit, “Yeah, I mean I know you’re a cop but…” She trailed off.

Our eyes met and held again for a moment.

She was studying me again, and this time I was afraid that she was seeing something of darkness in me now.

I laughed a bit this time.

“But what? Now you’re stereotyping my tattoos huh?” I joked and urged her to go on, wanting to know what was on her mind and what she thought about me.

I loved the sound of her laughter
, but she shook her head no as if she didn’t want to say.

“It isn’t the tattoos.
I actually think they’re cool…different.” She smiled.

I smiled, “No? Then what is it?” I was playing along with her now.

“I didn’t mean dark in a negative or bad way, I don’t know.” She said with a slight shrug.

I was beginning to feel as if she did know
, and I hated how she felt as if she couldn’t tell me things. I do know that I really wanted to pick up the conversation from yesterday, but I didn’t want to bring it up just yet.