Marked for Vengeance (25 page)

“You
listen to me,” he said sternly. “You saved my life. If it weren’t for you, I
would be dead right now.”

Alyx
wiped her cheek on her shoulder. “I would never have let that happen.”

“Exactly
my point. And judgin’ by the way you’re drivin’ like a maniac, I can tell you
want to get me help as soon as possible.”

Alyx
released a broken sigh and looked into the mirror. “More than anything.”

As soon
as their eyes met he smiled. “So no more of that cryin’… I can’t take it.”

“Yes,
sir,” she replied, and her lips drew into a grin.

It
had only been five minutes into their first
real
conversation – that
didn’t include her turning him down, or him accusing her of being something she
wasn’t – and as many times as she had fantasized about what it would be like, reality
far exceeded her expectations. In those few short moments, she learned
something about him that matured her desire; his soul was as attractive as his
exterior.

It
was no wonder why his looks alone or his touch would cause her feelings for him
to grow, but they were becoming more seasoned, developed. He was noble and
kind, which added a completely new facet to her view of him. It was his nature
to put others before himself, as indicated by his devotion to his son and his
concern for her feelings, a quality she most admired above all the others he
possessed. Even his eyes.

“So
what are you?” he asked, breaking her moment of reflection.

Her
harmonic feelings jumped quickly to unease. She never anticipated that he would
ask that. She didn’t see the harm in it, though. They were only ordered to keep
their existence a secret
before
they were summoned. After everything
that had happened already, that her poor decisions were the cause of, did this really
matter?

“If
you can’t say, it’s not a big deal. But I obviously want to know. Who
wouldn’t?”

 “I
understand. I was just debating whether or not I should say anything. But I
don’t think it matters. So here goes…

She
weaved around another stray car and straightened the wheel to stay in the
middle lane. Most of the abandoned cars were on the shoulders.

“I’m
called a Protector,” she continued, the look in her eyes bleeding severity, “I
was created in the darkness that lies between the stars and the heavens, by my
superiors, The Elder Angels and the Arch Angel of Protection. My job was to
capture you when we were summoned, to make sure that you survived and take you
to the gateway.”

“You’re
an Angel, then?” he asked with a trailing, contemplative voice. “Boy was I
wrong about you.”

Alyx
chuckled. “Yes, you were.”

“But
your black eyes, they’re so…
frightenin’
. Why would you be created to
look like that?”

“If
you go by the ideals of what humans
assume
an angel should look like,
then yes I would be frightening. Let me guess… white robes, halos, and feathers.”

Isaac
coughed again, both of them wincing in synchronization. “Exactly.”

“None
of us look like that. And I can only guess that my eyes appear the way they do
because my vision takes in every ray of light and color around me. I can see so
much better now, even those invisible beasts.”

“So
they’re more functional than they are a peek into your soul,” he jibed.

Alyx
playfully rolled her eyes. “Something like that.”

Isaac
became quiet, and she glanced in the mirror, dying to know his thoughts. He
stared at the back of her seat again, his eyes widening with astonishment as
though he’d had an epiphany.

“I
prayed for you,” he said, and her heart fluttered. “I prayed for you this
mornin’. For protection, I mean.” His eyes met hers in the mirror. “And now here
you are.”

“Not
to belittle your amazement, Isaac, but I’ve been around you a lot longer than
that. Three years to be exact.”

“
Three
-”
he choked.

Feeling
his discomfort, she squinted. “Yes, three years.”

“Why
so long?”

“I’m
not sure why I’m sent at a specific time during your life. They don’t really
tell us that.”

“Is
that why you peeped in my window? You were watchin’ over me? Like a guardian?”

Her
new-found comfort with the conversation elevated to thorough mortification.
Of
course
he would bring this up again. It was one of their most dramatic
encounters, the very epitome of her feelings for him. How it all began, where
it all escalated. Her cheeks colored with embarrassment as she fixed her eyes
onto the road, unable to answer.

“Are
you…
embarrassed
?” he said with amusement.

As
he awaited her response, she knew that there was one of three ways she could
answer the question. The first, not answering it at all, avoiding it
altogether. That route, however, would leave him to believe whatever he liked,
and her reaction had already told him part of the story. The second option
would be to let him run with his first assumption, which was partly true. The
first time she did it. The third option was riskier, it meant she would have to
put herself out there and confess that she had feelings for him. As much as she
didn’t want to admit it, this could very well be their last moments together.
This would be her one chance to tell him. To make it official.

“You
were partly right,” she replied, and the rosiness in her cheeks brightened. “I
had
to stakeout your home the first day I arrived. It was part of my orders.”

“Well
what about all of the other times?”

Sensing
his eager stare through the mirror, her gaze remained straight ahead. It would
be easier to admit all of this without looking him in the eyes. “I kept coming
back.”

“So,
you
weren’t
watching over me?” he asked with a hint of confusion.

As
she formulated her answer, she knew this part of her explanation would paint
him a better picture. She clamped her eyelids together for a moment and
refocused on the road, her heart racing. “It wasn’t necessary for me to. I was
able to feel you at all times.”

The
key word she knew he would pick up on was ‘necessary’. It wasn’t
necessary
for her to be there.

“Why
were you then?”

There
it is.

She
finally found the nerve to cast a glance at him, his eyes portraying his
puzzlement, but his lit up face told the story. He had caught on.

I
might as well.
“The only way to explain it, Isaac, is that I was…

She
held on to the sentence for a breath, and finally let it go. “Captivated by
you.”

He
didn’t have an immediate response this time, and her heart raced faster as she
awaited his reply. But she couldn’t look back at him yet, not until he said
something. Anything.

“So,”
he began, his voice brightening, and her eyes snapped to the mirror to witness
his exuberance.  A smile covered his pale face, and she couldn’t help but return
the gesture as he continued. “You
were
spyin’ on me then. I knew it! My
sexy
stalker
.”

Alyx’s
eyes narrowed with mock contempt. “Like you didn’t hunt me down either.”

“Why
wouldn’t
I? Look at you! Even in this form you are absolutely stunnin’.”

Her
blushing tickled her neck with heat, his flattery overwhelming. Apparently, he
didn’t have any qualms about being completely honest with her either.

They
sat in silence, each of them musing over their mutual admiration for the other,
an electric surge reaching from one end of the car to the other. She
practically felt it running through her shield.

“I do
need to ask you one thing, though,” he said, his voice flattening, “why the
cold shoulder so many times… if you were so ‘captivated’ by me?”

This
question also caught her by surprise. And
this
explanation would be
harder to share with him than her feelings were, to acknowledge verbally that
she used poor judgment and went against her orders. But she had yet to lie to
him during their car ride, where they had already laid everything out in the
open, and she didn’t want her pride to allow her to start now. Isaac deserved
an explanation. She had invaded his privacy for three months by spying on him
through his window and was rude to him in person when he so zealously
confronted her. Besides not wanting to lie, it was also important that he
understand
why
she was so cold, that their meeting each another was
forbidden.

“Before
I give my justification, I want you to know that it
killed
me to treat
you that way.”

“That’s
all the clarification you need to give, then.”

“No,
I need to. To help you understand. I was told to keep away from you, and we
were never to meet, to stay complete strangers. I fear I’ll be punished, as a
matter of fact.”

His
hand covered his mouth. “Oh, God! Did I get you in trouble by trackin’ you
down?”

“Don’t
you
dare
say that,” she said, her eyes cutting through the mirror, “you
would never have come looking for me had I not snooped around your building. I
would have remained the woman at the bistro that you thought you’d recognized
one afternoon.”

His
hand dropped, and he flashed his crooked smile. “Oh I don’t know, you made
quite an impression on me that day, and I knew you worked with Frederick. I
might have decided to anyhow.”

Waiting
around to taunt her, her fears of punishment from the Elders skulked around in
the back of her mind. But hearing those words from his mouth, that he too was
awestruck with her, caused her heart to sing. She would shelve her fears over
what might be done to her, and for now, enjoy his company while he was still
awake.

“Where
are we headed to again?” he asked.

“I
wish I knew. I’m not sure where the gateway will take us.”

“Then
how do you know there will be people there that can help us find Micah?”

“My
Elders will be there. I’ve never met them in person, but during my creation
part of their orders were to meet them on the other side of the gateway. I’m
sure they will help.”
If they’ll listen to me,
she thought, knowing they
would be the ones to dole out her punishment if they so decided.

“Ok,”
he said with a grunt as he readjusted to lay more on his side. “And thank you
for keeping your shield up. The pain was a lot worse before you did that.”

“I
wish I could do more,” she sighed.

Her
shield trembled as he rustled around, and his left hand shot up beside her
grasping a black, leather wallet. “Here, a picture of my boy is in there,” he said
proudly.

She laid
it open on her lap, and Micah’s picture stared back at her. His green eyes were
not from Isaac, but the shape of his face, his smile, there was no denying that
this was his child. To place a face with his name made him real to her now, and
sadness shadowed her heart. What had come of Isaac’s beloved? She had never
seen him before, but how that could be? He appeared to be a young teenager,
still in school. It could have been because she would spy on Isaac late at
night when Micah was already in bed.

“He’s
handsome like his father,” she mused and flipped the picture over to reveal a
folded reel of them in a photo booth, making funny faces at the camera. In one
picture, Micah’s tongue protruded from his lips as Isaac gazed into his eyes,
smiling at him in adoration, capturing his love for him perfectly.

“We’ll
get him back,” she avowed, now more determined than ever. 

“How
can you be so sure? Look at
me.
This is what these things are capable
of.”

“We
can’t afford to think like that, Isaac. We have to believe he’s ok.”

“I
don’t know… I had such a bond with Micah, and it’s like I can’t feel him
anymore. Like he’s not in this world anymore, as if he’s
gone
.

When
the words trickled from his mouth and into her ear, a chill ran down her spine.
What frightened her about his statement was not the terminology within it,
there wasn’t sorrow in his voice anymore when he said his son’s name. Not a
singe trace of panic. It was as if he had already accepted
his fate.

“What
if I was meant to die and be with him in the afterlife?”

“Don’t
you say that!” she snapped, her voice rising, “that is
not
the way this
is supposed to go. You’re supposed to help us. How could you have this gift,
whatever it is, and not be meant to use it?”

“I
know what you’re gettin’ at, but I’m a prophet, or so I’ve been told, and…”

Her
eyes shot to the mirror to see him gazing through the window, disconnected.

“Isaac?
What is it?!
” she asked, her emotions teetering on hysteria, “what were
you going to say?”

If
he were a prophet, wouldn’t he know his own fate? Had he already seen his
future? It made sense now why he was so calm about it, which now had the
opposite effect on her. Her hand that projected the shield quivered, along with
the rest of her body, mortified at what he would tell her.