Entangled (Entangled Trilogy #1) (22 page)

I tried to imagine my life without
him. I would have moved on with my life, going to dances with
Maddie, living life like normal people, still dating James. I
shuddered at the thought of James. Just thinking about him brings
back the pain. My hands still somehow felt sore from his furious
grip. I cogitated about what would’ve happened if Adrian was never
there to help me. I thought about how Adrian must’ve felt each time
he lost me. I didn’t realize I was crying until Adrian tightened
his grip on my waist and whispered soothing words in my
ear.

“What’s wrong, Roza? After you . .
. revived, you’ve been crying nonstop for days now. Please, let me
in. Let me see what you’re feeling. I need to know what is making
you so upset so that I could make it all better,” Adrian said
rather lugubriously, his voice laced with that longing and
heartbreak in them.

“Nothing,” I responded quickly and
wiped my tears away. Crying in front of him made me feel pathetic
and impractical. I wanted to be resilient in front of him. I wanted
to be the perfect soul mate but I knew that was
impossible.

“Adrian, can I ask you some things
about angels?” I asked nervously as he bit his bottom lip. I sighed
and shook my head. “Never mind,” I told him and hugged him
again.

“Hey, Roza, why are you so moody
all of a sudden? Did my mother do something? Are you afraid of
something? Please tell me,” Adrian begged me and I shook my
head.

“Nothing, really. Nothing’s
bothering me. Seriously, nothing,” I tried really hard to smile,
but I obviously failed at it. Adrian took my face in his hands and
looked me in the eyes.

“What’s wrong? Did James do
something to you?” Adrian asked me lightly, his thumbs creating
slow patterns on my cheeks.

“No, James didn’t come near me,” I
said and he sighed and pulled me closer to him, our faces were a
few inches away from his.

“Is it something I did? If you
want to know more about angels, then I can tell you more about
them, you know,” Adrian told me, trying to get me to tell him the
real reason behind my sadness.

“No, you didn’t do anything, I
swear it wasn’t you, Adrian,” I said softly and got up from his
lap, heading over to my balcony. Adrian followed me over to the
balcony and wrapped his arm around my waist from behind me, his
face buried in my neck.

“What’s wrong, Roza? I know there
is something you’re not telling me,” Adrian asked me, turning me
around so that I was facing him while he searched my eyes for
something, anything.

“Adrian, how does this whole soul
mate thing work?” I asked, trying to ignore other topics for our
comatose tête-à-tête.

“Okay, you sure that’s what’s been
bothering you?” he asked me, raising one eyebrow, his expression
filled with doubt.

“Yes,” I lied and gulped
inaudibly. If Adrian found out the truth, then he would go out on a
killing spree. He couldn’t know about it, at all.

“Okay, then,” Adrian said, lightly
running his finger over my arms and down to my waist. He loved this
dress on me; he said it made me look older for some reason; more
matured. I was wearing a cream chiffon tiered ruffle dress with
contrast black waistband. It had short sleeves and the waistband
had little white diamonds encrusted in them, creating a rose-like
pattern.

“Roza, for every angel, there is
an angel soul mate. When an angel Falls from Heaven, he/she can
still have a soul mate only if they are a Heavenly Angel. If you
Change into and Abaddon Angel, then you don’t have a soul mate.
Outcasts don’t have soul mates either. Soul mates are meant to be
compatible and like ‘soul mates’. Their souls are tied. If one of
them dies, then the other one will grow weaker. Only a soul mate
can heal his/her mate unless you’re a Heavenly Angel. Then, you can
heal yourself, however, you soul mate can heal more serious
injuries and heal you four times faster,” Adrian said, thinking
about each word carefully.

“So . . . you can’t heal
yourself?” I asked.

“Of course we can, but it will
just take us longer. Our soul mate can heal us faster. They have to
kiss the injured soul mate or just touch the wound and will for it
to heal. Each of us have a different way, their unique way,” Adrian
answered.

“So . . . what do you mean their
souls are tied?” I asked. Were they bound together?
Forever?

“They are sort of bound together.
They share a bond. Angel soul mates can feel what their mate feels.
They can instantly communicate with each other without
difficulties. They can read each other’s minds as well,” Adrian
said, looking down at his feet when saying the last sentence. I
immediately blushed and looked down. Oh. My. God. He knew what I
was thinking and everything.

“Can’t the mate block out their
mate?” I asked, wondering if I could block out Adrian and prevent
him from reading my mind.

“You’re not planning on blocking
me out, are you?” Adrian asked me; hurt seeping its way into his
voice.

“No, of course I’m not. Just
forget about the question. What is the purpose of a soul mate?” I
asked. Surely, there has to be a purpose.

“There’s just a simple purpose: to
create more angels. Soul mates are meant to love each other. The
second they are born, their fate is sealed. Once they turn sixteen,
they meet their soul mate. God ‘coincidentally’ makes them meet
each other. During their first meeting, they must choose whether or
not they reject their mate or not. Most angels don’t reject their
mate, but some do. And those who do reject their mate, they live
their life in misery, dying out very quickly with no one to pass on
their title to. So soul mates are basically to love each other,
care for each other and make more angels. They have to make at
least five angels, according to my mother,” Adrian said, his face
turning redder than before. I took my time to absorb all of this .
. . information.

“There is an exception, though.
You don’t have to make at least five angels, not unless you’re that
special type of angel. If you are, then you can choose to have just
one angel or whatever you want,” Adrian continued.

“What kind of special are you
talking about?” I asked, placing my hands on his chest
lightly.

“Ummm . . . they are called
Earthly Angels. They are only females, unfortunately. There is only
one Earthly angel present in the whole universe at one time. If
there is more than one earthly angel, then the whole Heaven and
Hell thing becomes unstable and one of them has to die,” Adrian
said sadly and I gasped. Adrian instantly looked at me, his eyes
filled with shock and fear. I understand his surprise, but why
fear?

“What’s wrong? Roza, answer me.
What’s wrong?” Adrian asked me, tilting my face up so that I was
locked in under his warming gaze.

“Nothing. I just feel really bad
for them. That’s all,” I shrugged and Adrian let out a breath of
relief. Something was not right. He was acting really weird; well,
weirder than usual.

“You told me that all angels have
angel soul mates. Then how come I’m your soul mate? I’m not an
angel,” I asked, frowning slightly and his eyes had that faraway
look in them.

“You’ll find out about that later.
Just remember, no matter what happens, I’ll always be by your side.
I’ll always be there for you. You can come to me for anything,”
Adrian told me, pressing his lips into a thin line, causing my
frown to deepen. Why was he ducking my questions?

“Okay,” I said cynically, letting
the topic go, just for now. He sighed and leaned in to kiss my
forehead.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Roza.
Please don’t hurt yourself. I don’t want you to worry about this
whole soul mate thing. You’ll get everything when the time comes,”
Adrian told me and I nodded. Again with the when the time comes. He
hugged me and that same goofy smile spread over his face once
again, but this time, the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Adrian
left and I felt empty all over again.

I quickly rushed over to my
bedside table and took out the letter. That’s right; I got another
threat from my secret admirer. I didn’t tell anyone about it, not
even Adrian. I didn’t want him to know why I was so bipolar every
day. I opened it and encountered that same coppery smell, telling
me that the letter was written in blood again. I read it carefully,
trying to remember all of this threat. I didn’t even bother to read
it once I saw it on my bed when I returned from the
hospital.

Rose,

You are so beautiful; I’ll never
get tired of looking at your beautiful face. I see that you’ve
returned from the dead. How does it feel? I was very happy when I
heard about your breakup with Adrian but not anymore. I see you’ve
gotten back together with your soul mate. You’ve failed to follow
my orders. You think you can escape my pressures, but guess what;
it is unmanageable to run away from me. I’m everywhere. I’m always
watching you. Maybe your protector isn’t doing a very good job. You
disobeyed me and now, you’re going to see what I can do. You will
feel my wrath and I almost feel bad for you. But only if that was
possible for me to feel. I don’t regret doing anything I’m about
to. Trust me, I will not hurt you, but I will slowly kill you once
and for all this time. I am going to torture those you love,
agonizingly slowly in front of you. I think I’ll start with Prince
Charming. He looks like a great target, don’t you think? Mark my
words, Rose, now, there’s one more realm trying to capture you.
Death’s mark is on you. You can’t escape death, Rose. You messed
with the wrong people. Sweet Dreams.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer.

CHAPTER 23

BROKEN PROMISES

What should I do? I can’t suicide
and leave Adrian. Who is this person? I can’t tell anyone about
this. I can always break up with Adrian and keep him safe that way.
Maybe then, the “secret admirer” will stop hurting him and hurt me
instead. I don’t want Adrian to get injured. Just then, the
doorbell rang, breaking me out of my incubi. I ran down the stairs
and unlocked the door, only to meet the last person I anticipated
to see right now.

“What do you want?” I asked,
clearly infuriated.

“Nothing, I swear. I just wanted
to check up on you,” James said, throwing his hands up in the air
in surrender.

“Fine, come in,” I said, closing
the door and heading upstairs to my room. James took the signal and
shadowed me up to my room. I sat on my bed and looked up at him
while he looked around the room, flattering every part of
it.

I liked my room very much. It was
a pale apricot color with two bookshelves along the walls, a bed,
an apple computer, a flat screen TV, my own mini refrigerator, my
laptop, my dressing table, a floor length mirror, three large
walk-in closets, a bathroom with a Jacuzzi and a separate bathroom
like a normal person’s and two wardrobes. My whole room was
beautiful with a large balcony that looked out into the front of
the house and a staircase leading to the backyard. I almost forgot
to mention my secret hideout behind my bookshelf that no one else
knew about.

“Nice place you got here. I like
it,” James smiled and sat down next to me.

“Gee, thanks,” I mutter under my
breath as he unexpectedly pulls me in for a bear hug.

“Rose, I’m sorry for treating you
the way I did,” James murmurs into my hair and I pull away from his
hug, scooting far away from him. He exhales discontentedly and
looks crushed.

“I don’t even know if you’ll
believe me or not, but I still have feelings for you. I still love
you, but I have to stay away from you,” James admits with a wounded
expression.

“Why?” I ask and move an inch or
two closer to him.

“Because Adrian gave me and
Lucifer a restraining order. That’s right; Prince Charming gave us
a
restraining order
. We have to stay at least fifty feet away from you at all
times,” James tells me and I burst out giggling. Yeah, Adrian
giving them restraining orders; I can imagine that. I look down at
how far we are away from each other now and look back up to meet
his gaze, holding back my another hysterical laugh.

“Then how come you’re so close to
me?” I query and he moves closer to me while I move back in my bed
until my back bumps into the pillows lined up against the
headboard. I gulp and he moves closer and closer until our faces
are a few centimeters away from him. To be honest, I still miss
James. I still have feelings for him but I had to ignore
it.

“Why aren’t you listening to the
restraining orders then?” I asked him, gulping inaudibly
again.

“Do you know how hard it is to
stay away from you?” James asks me and leans in even closer. “Every
time I try, I fail.”

“Did you write that letter?” I
utter out accidentally and immediately regret it. “Forget what I
said.”

“What letter? What is it Rose?
Please tell me. What letter? Does Adrian know about this?” he asked
me, looking very suspicious.

“No, it’s nothing, really,” I say,
trying not to meet his stormy gaze. He tilted my chin up so that I
can meet his gaze.