Personal Demons 2 - Original Sin (2 page)

“So, it sounds like when you do what comes naturally, your Sway works just fine. Maybe you're just trying too hard.” He drops his head and looks at me, those fathomless black eyes still on fire. But then he pushes away. “If only I could finish what I've started.”

I tug him back to me by the waist of his jeans. “Why can't you?”

“Because the woman from the library told me to call her at one.” He nods to the clock on the microwave, which reads 12:58.

I shove him away and turn back to the soapy sink full of dishes. “You're such a tease.” I shake my head, frustrated. “See how well my Sway works? I couldn't even entice you to blow off a phone call.”

His hands slide down the curve of my hips and I look over my shoulder at him. “Oh, you enticed me just fine,” he says with a beautifully wicked grin. “The only reason I can resist right now is because I'm fairly certain we can pick up where we left off when I'm done.”

“Don't be so sure,” I say, knowing he's right. “You snooze, you lose.”

He looks genuinely concerned for a heartbeat; then his face clears. “We'll see about that.” His smile is back, and all kinds of wicked ideas flash behind his eyes. He sits in one of the kitchen chairs and pushes back, balancing on its back two legs as he dials.

He hangs up ten minutes later while I'm stacking the last of the dishes, an old set of my mom's, back into the cupboard. Lowering all four legs of his chair back to the ground, he says, “I start Saturday.”

“I don't know why you think you need a job. You should be able to live forever….” I catch myself as he grins. “I mean, for the rest of your life, anyway, on your insane bank accounts.”

His gaze settles into mine. “And so could you.”

I turn back to the counter and ignore the thrill that races through me with everything he's implying. “I'm not taking your money, Luc.” We've done this already.

“Fine. So, you'll be working, and I could spend all day hanging around that pizza place, or I can attempt to become a productive member of society.”

“I guess it's best,” I admit.

Luc tended to distract me when he was around. My first week at my new job was pretty rough, culminating with the pizza Ricco made me pay for after it slid off the tray and onto the floor on my way to a table.

I hang the dishcloth over the faucet and turn back to face Luc. “Ricco would probably have you arrested for stalking me and scaring away all the customers if you hung at his place all day. You still have that
dark
thing happening, you know. They'd lock you up and throw away the key.”

“Speaking of keys…” He slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out a shiny silver key, holding it up so it glimmers in the dim lighting. “It's to the apartment. I know it's only for another couple of months, but I want you to be able to come and go as you please.”

I settle into his lap. “I thought that's what I was doing.”

“You shouldn't have to knock.” His arms circle me and pull me closer.

“You're not afraid I'll walk in on you doing something you're not supposed to be?”

“The only person I'd be doing that with would be you.” His expression takes on a suggestive edge as he slides his hand under my shirt. “And you'll already be here.”

When I press my lips to his, my heart rate doubles. He starts to pull my shirt over my head.

“Don't mind me….” Gabe's voice comes from the door and scares the snot out of me.

I turn and there he is, leaning against the doorframe looking all angelic: glowing smile, platinum waves, and insanely beautiful blue eyes shining out of a strong, tanned face. Nobody should be allowed to look that good.

Luc blows out a frustrated sigh and eases my shirt back down. “For the love of all things unholy, what is it with you celestials? Will you please learn how to knock?”

“And miss the show?” he says, smiling at me as I yank at my shirt.

I extricate myself from Luc and stand.

“For an angel, you're quite the pervert,” Luc says.

Gabe relaxes back into the wall and tucks his hands into the pocket of his jeans. “Some things are worth losing your wings for.” His smile is gone and his blue eyes pierce mine. “Anyway, I really just came to say good-bye.”

“Good-bye?” The panic that lives constantly in my gut creeps into my voice. As guilty as it makes me feel, there's nothing I can do to stop my heart from fluttering when he looks at me like that—like he's seeing my soul.

Luc notices my awkward stare and the color in my cheeks. He pulls himself out of the chair and glares at Gabe. “Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.”

“Won't be using the door, dude.” He saunters over to Luc's wall mural. “You know you're playing for the other team now. You've really got to do something about this,” he says, running a finger over the roiling orange and gold molten surface of the Lake of Fire.

“Hey, you can take the demon out of Hell, but you can't take Hell out of the demon.” Luc's grin makes my heart go from fluttering to sputtering.

Gabe's eyes slide back to mine. “You're going to be fine, Frannie,” he says. And a part of me hates that he's in my head—reading my mind. That he knows how I feel about him, even if I don't.

But then I register what he's saying. My sputtering heart speeds up as an overwhelming sense of alarm takes over at the thought of Gabe leaving. “You can't go.” It's all I can say without sounding totally hysterical or giving away the shake in my voice.

He steps forward and brushes the hair out of my face with a sweep of his hand. “It's better this way. For everyone,” he adds, glancing toward Luc.

“But—”

“You'll be in good hands, Frannie. Matt will be here if you need him, and Luc…” His jaw tightens and his eyes narrow almost imperceptibly. “Luc won't let anything happen to you.”

Luc, perceiving the challenge in Gabe's words, steps forward and loops his arms around me. “You're right, I won't.”

I pull out of Luc's grasp and step toward Gabe. “Why?”

He lifts a hand and brushes his cool fingertips along the line of my jaw. I breathe in his cool winter sunshine and feel calmer just standing here next to him. When he answers, his voice is soft and low—meant only for me. “It's really not wise for me to spend too much time around you, Frannie.”

“But—”

“You're both tagged for Heaven, and if you need to leave, your celestial Shields will keep both of you hidden. With Matt watching, you'll be fine. But I can't stay here.” His gaze drops to the floor.

I swallow thickly past the lump in my throat. “Okay,” I say, knowing he's right, because there's a reason that I'm dreading turning around and looking at Luc. I can't deny that, as much as I love Luc, I have some deep connection to Gabe. Luc is my heart and my soul, but Gabe is my anchor. I hug him and pull away as I feel tears sting my eyes. I step back and Luc's arm eases around my waist, feeling much less possessive. I look at him, sure of what I'll see, but his eyes are soft and full of compassion. He gives me a gentle squeeze and a reassuring smile.

I turn back to Gabe and stare into his blue eyes, endless as the sky. “So, when will I see you?”

“I'll be back here and there to check on you.”

“You promise?” I know how desperate it sounds, but I don't care.

He lifts his eyes, but not his head, gazing at me out from under his long white lashes. “Promise.” He continues to stare at me, and even though his lips don't move, I swear I hear him add, “I'll always be here for you.”

I nod again and choke back the threat of tears. I open my mouth, but there aren't words, so I close it again. But my eyes say what my mouth couldn't. And I know he sees it, because his eyes mist and he swallows hard as he disappears.

“Sorry, Frannie,” Luc says, pulling me to him. “I try not to be jealous, to understand your connection….”

“It's not your fault.” I hold him tighter. How can I expect him to understand it when even I can't figure it out?

His hand drifts to my face and he pulls me into a kiss, his lips gentle on mine, as if he's afraid of breaking me. I wind my fist into his hair and pull him closer, but it lasts only a second before I draw back, ashamed. I'm looking for something in his kiss that isn't there. Something that I've felt in only one other kiss. I'll need to find a different way to calm my nerves.

I ignore the question swirling in Luc's eyes as he gazes down at me, his brow creased.

“Help me change that oil before work?”

I can tell by his resigned sigh that he knows I was thinking of Gabe, and I hate that I'm so crappy at hiding it.

“Your wish, my command,” he says. “What time do you have to be there?”

“Three.”

He glances at the clock in the kitchen. “We better get on it. You have everything?”

“In the trunk.” I pull my keys from my pocket, jingling the two keys that now dangle from my rabbit's foot key chain with a tentative smile.

He smiles back and takes my hand, leading me to the door. “I forgot to test your key,” he says. “Try it.”

I jingle my keys again as we step into the hall and use the shiny new one to lock the door behind us. I pull the key from the lock and feel him press into me from behind, his hands gliding gently around my waist to my stomach. His lips trace a line across my cheek to my ear, where he whispers, “We're in this together, Frannie. Everything's going to be fine.”

I spin in his arms and kiss him again, this time wanting only him. Warmth from his kiss spreads through me till I'm burning with it.

Twisting my finger down the scar Beherit left on his cheek, I shudder and think about how close I came to losing him. I want to tell him how much I trust him and that I know he'd do anything for me. He proved that when he risked his own life to save me from Beherit. I want to tell him I'd do anything for him too. But I can't manage words past the lump in my throat. Instead, I turn back to the door, blinking away tears, unlock the deadbolts, and pull him into the apartment.

I lead him to the bed, then pull him into another kiss. We sink into the sheets, and I just want to lose myself in him—not to have to think about anything for a little while. But when I reach for the button of his jeans, he twines his fingers in mine and brings my hand up to his face, where he kisses the back of my fingers.

“Not like this, Frannie. Our first time isn't going to be because of him.”

“It's not 'cause of him. I just want us to be closer.” But even as I say it, I'm really not 100 percent sure it's true, because those blue eyes and that glowing smile are there in my head. I feel the hole in my heart where he's supposed to be. I miss Gabe already.

“Soon,” Luc says, and kisses me. “But not now.”

Matt

Gabriel filled me in before he pushed through the wall into Luc's apartment. I'm on my own. When I started to follow him through, he motioned for me to wait in the hall. He said he needed a private moment with Frannie. How he planned to accomplish that with the demon in the room is anybody's guess.

Frannie and the demon came out a little while later, and she looked seriously shaken. But he whispered something to her and they disappeared back through the door.

And I've been sitting here ever since, thinking about what their deal is—the three of them.

Gabriel is a Dominion. One of Heaven's most powerful. Third in line to God Himself. But when I watch him with Frannie, everything about him changes—softens. He'd do anything for her. And the look in his eyes when he told me he was leaving…Agony. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was in love with her.

Could he love her? Angels love everyone. It's what we do. But, I mean…is it more than that? Does he seriously
love
her?

I'm still pondering that when Frannie and the demon step out into the hall again. I follow them toward the stairs as they lock step, arm in arm. Just as we reach the bottom of the stairs, the door from the parking lot swings open. Frannie holds it as a stack of boxes with legs walks through. The stack of boxes bumps into her, and the top one slips, revealing the face of a girl. She's about our age but taller than Frannie, with stringy, chocolate brown hair hanging across her green eyes.

“Shit. Sorry,” she says just as the top box slips off the stack. The demon grabs it before it hits the floor.

“Got it,” he says. “Where you headed?”

“Two eighteen,” she says.

He glances at Frannie. “We'll give you a hand?”

“Sure,” Frannie says, grabbing a box off the stack. “Are you moving in?”

“Yeah,” she says, diverting her gaze. “Thanks, but you guys don't need to help. Looks like you're headed somewhere.”

“No biggie. The oil can wait,” Frannie says, and turns for the stairs.

Apartment 218 is next door to Luc's. I watch as the three of them haul boxes from the bed of the girl's beat-up hunter orange Ford pickup up the stairs and into her apartment. In three trips, they have everything. The girl wipes beads of sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her gray sweatshirt.

“I need to get to work,” Frannie says. “You got it from here?”

The girl stares at the floor, not meeting Frannie's eyes as she speaks. “I'm good…. I don't have that much.”

I look at the small stack of boxes in the middle of the room. If that's all her stuff, she's right.

I watch her scan the room. Other than the cabinets in the kitchen, which are painted a cheerful tangerine color, the place looks pretty bleak. Just an open space with peeling grayish walls. Like in Luc's apartment, there's a large window that overlooks the parking lot. The upper windowpane is cracked in an intricate spiderweb pattern that looks sure to explode into hundreds of shards at the least contact. Along the wall to the right of the window is a worn green sofa with a large tear in the middle cushion, which has belched a pile of crumbling foam stuffing onto the floor. Looking around, it's hard to understand the excited glint in the new girl's eyes. To me it's just depressing, which is saying something, since angels don't get depressed.