Fall From Grace (4 page)

Her skin was hot to the touch. The heat
radiated up his arms to his chest and face. Cool ocean mist greeted
them when they exited onto the white sand, calming the burning.

“You made it. Great.” Sammy sat in front of
Boon, with his arms resting over her shoulders.

Alexander set Gaby on her feet, unfolded a
blanket Sammy had left on a tree stump, and placed it on the
ground. “So what’s the big news?”

Boon and Sammy exchanged smiles, “We’ve
already talked this over with Grace, but we hope that you’ll be
happy for us, too.”

“This sounds exciting.” Gaby lowered to her
knees and sat to her side, tucking her legs under her.

“News that starts with, ‘we hope you’ll be
happy for us,’ usually means I’m not going to like it.” Alexander’s
head spun through possible scenarios, none of them good.

“It’s great news, really.” Sammy gave her
brightest smile, and her chest raised and lowered, “We’re going to
Soulbond. Grace is planning a beach ceremony. And I already have a
dress; it’ll be sort of like an Earth wedding. She’s going to
officiate, and I was hoping that you would walk me down the aisle.
I know it sounds crazy, but we’re on Earth. May as well have both a
wedding and Soulbonding.”

“Sammy.” Alexander gasped.

Eyes wide, she shifted twice and clasped her
hands in her lap.

His heart warmed at the sight of her.
Happiness beamed from Sammy without even revealing her aura. But
did she not realize what that meant? Forever trapped on Earth, with
a war coming. Maybe there was still a chance for her to rise before
Hell took over. “Now? With everything that’s going on?”

“With what going on?” Gaby asked.

“Um…you know.” Alexander fought for the
right words. “We need to focus on helping you figure out your
powers and stopping a war.”

“We have time. It’ll be years before that
happens.” Gaby waved her hand.

He couldn’t tell her the truth. If he was
faced with eternity on Earth by Gaby’s side or running back to
Heaven, he would choose Gaby. How could he deny the same for Sammy?
Besides, she’d do it with or without his permission.

“Alexander, please, you have to—”

“If you’d let me get a word in.”

Sammy held her hands up in surrender.

Alexander lowered to sit by Gaby, wrapping
his arm around her middle. The touch of her soft dress drew him
closer. How could he let his sister sacrifice so much, yet deny her
the one thing he’d do himself?

“I have one question. I know Grace blessed
this, but Sammy, do you fully understand what happens if one of you
is forever cursed to roam Earth?” He had to tread cautiously but
get his point across without making Gaby suspicious.

“It means as long as Boon is forced to
remain on Earth, I will be here with him. I don’t care. The two
thousand years we spent apart was worse than any time I’ve spent on
Earth. Besides I want to stay and fight for the innocent. I also
believe someday we’ll find a way to break the curse.”

“I believe that too. But you can’t agree to
Soulbond with Boon based on that assumption. Once you bond there is
never a way out. You’ll be together for eternity.” The fire
reflected off of Sammy’s face, and he could see her determination.
There would be no changing her mind.

Boon brushed hair from her eyes. “We know.
But even eternity isn’t enough time to spend together.”

“Then it would be an honor to walk you down
the aisle, Sis.”

Sammy squealed and gave Alexander a quick
hug before returning to Boon’s side. Gritty sand was now flung over
their blanket.

“So if you do this Soulbonding thing you
will never be separated again?” Gaby asked.

Uh, oh. This wasn’t good.

“Yes.” Sammy answered still engrossed in
Boon’s eyes.

Alexander wanted to smack her back to
reality.

Gaby looked longingly at Alexander. His
stomach knotted with the knowledge of what she was thinking. Lips
didn’t have to move for her words to scream into his head.

“Gaby, you’re only sixteen-years-old. I’m
the only guy you’ve ever experienced—”

“The only guy I’ll ever want to be with.”
She interjected.

“Let’s finish high school at a minimum,
after that we’ll talk about it.”

“You don’t want to…” Her voice trailed off
as she looked away taking his heart with her, twisting it with her
sorrow.

How could he explain that he’d Soulbond with
her right that moment, but it wasn’t fair to her? There was no way
she could grasp eternity when she’d only been alive less than two
decades.

Boon and Sammy got up, hugged Alexander, and
excused themselves. A knowing grin painted on both their faces.
“Good luck, buddy.” Boon smacked him on the shoulder.

“Well, it looks like we have the bonfire all
to ourselves.” Alexander’s stomach churned, but he sat back down.
He hadn’t been that nervous since their first date.

“Yeah, guess we do.”

“Gaby, please…look at me.” Alexander moved
in front of her and lifted her chin. “I love you. More than
anything in this world and beyond, but I can’t ask you to Soulbond
with me right now. It’s not fair to you.”

“Why? Why isn’t it fair to me? I might only
be sixteen, almost seventeen, but I’ve lived a lifetime or more of
grief. Maybe I want to have some assurance you’re never going to
leave me like my mother and father have.” Tears welled in her eyes,
but he knew she was too stubborn to cry. Instead, she stiffened
under his touch and blinked the tears back.

This wasn’t how this night was supposed to
go. He reached over and placed his hand on hers. Even a little
dulling of the pain could help the situation and give Gaby some
perspective.

“Gaby, my love, you’re the only one I could
ever want to spend eternity with.” Sorrow passed from her hand into
his. The sexual energy he’d felt leaving Homecoming was gone. Her
sweet innocence radiated from her heart and soul. “Do you
understand, if I’m forced to remain on Earth, you’ll never be with
your mother again? And after your father is gone, you’ll have no
one but me.”

“You’re all I need.” Gaby looked up with
glistening eyes.

Alexander took a long cleansing breath. “If
you still want me after you graduate, and your father gives
permission, then I’ll be waiting for you. But if you have any doubt
at that point, you must not go through with it. This isn’t a
typical wedding. There is no divorce from Soulbonding.”

Gaby jumped into his arms, knocking him
backward. “I won’t change my mind.” She lay on top of him, running
her hands through his hair. “There’s nothing that could possibly
change my mind about being with you forever.”

Breasts smashed into his chest as her lips
parted. Sexual energy pulsed, sending hot waves through his
body.

She moved with the rhythm of the waves
crashing on the shore. A fire erupted inside him as if he’d leaned
against a hot engine after a hard day at the track.

Groans sounded in his ears as her mouth ran
along an earlobe. Her lips met his again for a long passionate
kiss.

“I love you,” she whispered.

His hands couldn’t stop exploring her body,
and he rolled on top of her.

The bonfire exploded next to them, sending
flames high into the sky. The ground rumbled.

He flew off her, panting.

She sat up, dress disheveled. “Why did you
stop?” Gaby frowned.

Unable to find words, all he could do was
shake his head. Looking away, he sat up on his knees, still short
of breath.

When he looked back up she was covering
herself and sat holding her knees to her chest. Cheeks rosy, jaw
set.

“Gaby, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to get carried away. I didn’t…I mean I should’ve stopped sooner. I
tried, but you’re so perfect.”

“Why’d you stop if you want me that bad?”
Gaby looked away, and he knew tears threatened to spill over.

He pulled a handkerchief from his jacket
pocket and went to her. Half wanting to run and jump in the ocean
and swim far away, half wanting to resume touching her.

“I’m an angel. I might be fallen, but I want
to wait until we’re together forever. I couldn’t dishonor you or
your father that way.”

“You don’t want to be with me forever, but
you won’t be with me physically if we’re not bonded forever. Talk
about a walking contradiction. You say you love me, but you refuse
me.” Gaby pushed away and headed toward the ocean.

He longed to pull her back down onto the
blanket and make all the pain in her life go away, but it wouldn’t.
Being together would complicate things further. It could ignite her
powers in an uncontrolled frenzy, causing her more pain than she
could imagine.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms
around her waist with shaking hands. “Do you feel that, Gaby?”

“What?”

“It crushes me to hurt you in any way.
That’s why I had to stop. I’m shaking with desire for you. It’s
taking every ounce of control right now even to touch you without
losing it. I love you. That’s why I had to stop. If we continued,
I’d be going against angelic law. I’ve done that once and promised
myself never to do it again.” He choked with the memory of causing
Sammy’s fall.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re right. Just
promise me you’ll wait for me. If you…If Avery—”

“Never.” He turned her around to face him.
“The only one I’ll ever want is you.”

He kissed her in the moonlight, listening to
the waves crash to the shore. The heavy burden of knowledge rested
on his soul.

If she were an angel, not a product of all
worlds, this would be different. How could he tell her that only
pure angels could Soulbond?

****

Gaby rested her head against the pillow that
evening, but her body wouldn’t relax. Her stomach twisted at the
thought of sleeping down the hall from Alexander. Did he feel the
same way? Was he lying in bed dreaming of her by his side?

Heat blanketed her cheeks as she played the
scene over and over in her head. Alexander didn’t want her in that
way. He didn’t want to go against angelic law. She understood, but
shouldn’t he struggle as much as she was?

This strong desire she experienced seemed to
control her. From the moment they left Homecoming, her blood surged
through her body as if carrying an aphrodisiac to every cell. Even
Prim said something about her behavior and thought it had to do
with stress over Avery, some sort of teenage angst thing. She was
so kind and easy to talk to. A mother-like figure she’d missed over
the last couple of years.

Grace was great, but Gaby couldn’t really
talk about everything with her. After all, she was Alexander’s
mother. She had all these strange emotions they couldn’t possibly
understand; they weren’t human. They certainly didn’t know what it
was like to be a human teenager. But Prim listened to her every
word. Of course, she couldn’t tell her she was some sort of product
of all worlds, but that was refreshing. To have a conversation that
didn’t include her saving the world.

She closed her eyes but slept restlessly,
plagued by bizarre dreams. Not the dreams that told the future, but
strange swirls of never ending color. Every nerve in her body felt
like exposed wire touching a battery. Unable to lie still any
longer, she got up and paced around her room. It had been days
since she slept well. She yanked the zipper open on her overnight
bag and snatched the bottle of little green pills out. She’d
brought them over two nights ago after she dreamed of murdering her
father. If she took one, the nightmares would stay away and she
could sleep.

She rolled the small brownish bottle with
the white top around in her palm. No. If she started taking them
again, she wouldn’t feel anything. She’d learned a long time ago,
feeling nothing was worse than feeling sad or having nightmares. Of
course, she needed them when her mother died, but not anymore.

The sun peaked through the pale-blue
curtains, and she tossed the pills back in her bag. Not ready to
face Alexander after his refusal, she got dressed. There was a lot
of work at home to get the house ready for her father’s return.

The smell of wet grass and fresh oranges
soothed her nerves while she walked the path home.

How could she choose to never see her mother
again? Of course, she couldn’t let Alexander know she had any
doubts about Soulbonding. But it didn’t matter. Gaby knew deep down
that Alexander wouldn’t be cursed on Earth forever. Somehow, some
way, she’d convince him to Soulbond with her. They were meant to be
together. She’d die before she’d lose him.

Chapter Four

Patronus barked. Wood paneling rattled.
Windows clanked, and a puff of smoke sputtered from the wall
air-conditioning unit.

“What the hell?” Gaby dropped her cell and
pressed the off button on the front of the brown and tan unit. No
response. Slamming her fist against it, smoke billowed out as if an
industrial smoke stack protruded from the wall. She yanked the plug
from the outlet, coughing and waving her arms about the room. It
erupted with one last epileptic seizure before silencing.

A glance around the room found the last
three hours of scrubbing the floors and windows to be time wasted.
“Great, now what?” Frustration pooled around her desire to make her
father’s homecoming perfect.

“Gaby, Gaby. Is everything okay?” Sammy’s
voice sang out from below.

Gaby retrieved her cell phone from the
floor. “Everything’s fine. You know the AC unit Alexander fixed in
my living room?”

“Yes.”

“Tell your mother she’s right. Alexander
might be an angel with the ability to heal a human, but he’s
hopeless with fixing anything else.”

“My brother is many things, but handyman’s
not one of them.” Sammy chuckled.

The rank odor of burned wires infiltrated
the room like cat urine on carpet. Gaby cranked the handle of the
aquamarine window slats in the living room and kitchen. Smoke faded
to fog. A steady ocean breeze blew through the house refreshing the
old shack.