Redeemed In Shadows (8 page)

He was thumbing through channels when she made it to the game room. His eyes not really focusing on the screen, but something past that, off into the distance that only he could see.

“Ready when you are Angel boy.” Gabe locked eyes on her, his frown evident as the slash of his brow dipped to shadow his eyes.

“You always this rude?” he asked.

“Only at four in the morning.”

In one smooth motion he stood. His tall muscular frame unfolding to stand above her at almost seven feet. He eyed her from head to toe, did what could only be described as a double take as he zeroed in on first her legs and slowly made his way up to her face, where his eyes focused on her lips. Unconsciously, she pulled her lower lip between her teeth and waited.
“Way to reel him in.”

Reel him in?

She wasn’t doing anything of the sort. His shoulders rose and fell drastically with the breath he pulled through his nose. It made his wings expand, the tips brushing the beams on the ceiling. Xee looked down just as he released another breath and watched as his shirt rested against his abdomen showing glimpses of bronzed skin. His jeans rested low on his hips and if she looked hard enough,--which she was--she could see the carved indention of the sexy V women swooned over.

“Now you’re attracted to a dude?”
Micah asked with disbelief.

“No, shut up. I was admiring his strength, that’s all.”

“Right and I’m not a Para-housed living inside your body.”

Xee ignored Micah and turned towards the elevator.

“Wrong way Blossom.”

She froze. The only person to ever call her Blossom was her grandmother and she was dead.

“What did you call me?” Xee whispered.

Gabe turned and hunched his shoulders making his wings flare out at his sides.

“You call me Angel Boy, I’ll call you Blossom.”

Idiot.

Only her
Tutu
could call her that and since she was dead… It was a term she didn’t want to hear again. Ever.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call me Angel Boy then. My name is Gabe. You don’t like calling me by my name; I’ll answer to Sir, or even Gabriel, not Angel Boy. Don’t let the wings fool you little girl.”

She watched as he walked in the opposite direction and quietly followed. She wasn’t a little girl, but she wasn’t trying to go head first into a fight with Death either.

“I’m not a little girl.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

Shit!

She’d said that out loud and she’d used her pouty voice. She heard him chuckle under his breath and she almost kicked him but thought better of it. Gabe led her down a series of never ending stairs.

“Had I known I was going to walk this much, I would have invested in a Fit Bit. Ever head of an elevator Angel Boy?”

She was goading him again, but couldn’t seem to help herself. Hurrying to keep up she bumped into his feathers when he stopped abruptly and grunted. They looked soft, but were anything but. They were sharp and rigid at the tips. A very deceptive trick. She’d always thought the wings would be soft. She didn’t know that about Angels. Or maybe it was just him. The other thing she noticed was the smell. Enticing with a spicy aroma that invaded her senses. She pulled a lung full into her chest and physically melted.

“Are you sniffing me,” Angel Boy turned in her direction, head bent low so that they were face to face. His champagne eyes assessing her with cruelty as they narrowed. They stood toe to toe, neither one of them moving. The intensity of his stare was alluring. She was a fish dazzled by the end of a lure as it beckoned her closer for a taste.

“Stop! Xee snap out of it, it’s Angel dust.”

“Angel dust?”
She asked Micah in confusion.

“It’s like faery dust, only it doesn’t put you to sleep. It’s meant to ensnare, lure you in.”

Why the heck was he trying to lure her in?

A fish out of water. He was trying to trick her.

His response was to click his tongue and turn back, continuing his descent down the stairs.

“The reason we can’t take the elevators,” he said by way of not answering her question. “Is because once we hit the sub level, the electro-magnetic field throws off the electricity.

“Couldn’t we have taken the elevators to the cafeteria level?”

“You lazy or something?”

Or something.

“No.” Her voice rose.

“I like the exercise.”

Xee mimicked his words behind his back, snickering as she did.

Chapter 5

“No fraternizing with the enemy Xee. We’re here to do a job and that’s it.”

“I’m here to work and get paid. I won’t be doing any such thing with him or anyone else. Same goes for you. You’re just here taking up residence in my body and keep your un-helpful tidbits to yourself.”

“I’m the only one here who cares about your wellbeing. Best remember that.”

Micah had always been there for her. From the beginning when she would have fallen into complete darkness, he’d been there to reach in and give her a helping hand. She’d felt hopeless and afraid. She’d been sixteen when she tried to end her torment. He’d been the one to stop her. She’d been numb, and non-responsive to the pain she was constantly subjected to. Being locked away in a dark place where there was no light for more than twenty hours a day was no way for a sixteen year old to live. In the dark there was always light. Always a way, but at sixteen, lying on a cold harsh metal table, barely clothed and being treated to what her doctor had deemed necessary rehabilitation, she only saw her unending doom. The limitless torture that was her life if she didn’t free herself.

She’d struggled with the knowledge while she lay there on the cold slab of metal knowing her time was coming to an end when a voice whispered in her head.

Slow your breathing to match mine.
Low, deep the voice soothing had spoken to her in the dark. It didn’t scare her. She heard voices all the time. It was why she’d been institutionalized in the first place.

That’s right, now when he approaches the table. I want you to let me take over. Let me drive. Let me in.

Xee hadn’t said a word, but she did retreat inside herself. She’d drawn so deep inside herself that when she’d come to, her memory was skewed. The good doctor was gone. The walls, the ceiling, and even the crack underneath the door was covered in blood, and the only thing that was discernable about her tormentor was his gray hair that was soaked in his blood, turning it a burnished brown. She was the only thing in the filthy room that remained untouched by the carnage that lay before her. “
Snap back to reality, we’re here.”

So Micah wasn’t asleep.

Gabe stopped in front of a large bronze door that was carved with detailed imaging that looked just like Aguste Rodin’s, The Gates of Hell.

“Is this some sick joke?”

He turned again looking down at her with a quizzical stare. The door depicted ones journey into the fiery pit. Supposedly, it depicted a scene from The Inferno. The first section of Dante’s Alighieri’s the Divine Comedy. There were slight differences between this door and the ones she’d seen in books. The Thinker was no thinker at all, but a man tormented, he had wings on his back that were draped over his sitting frame as if they were a cloak of protection. She also noticed the famed Kiss was a male Angel with wings that looked broken as he intimately embraced and kissed a woman who was lying half her upper body across the Angels legs.

“This is the original of twelve. There are twelve gates scattered around the world, guarded by those who have been deemed Watchers, they are not at all like Dietrich’s people. Each gate represents an hour of the night.”

“I thought there were thirteen hours in the night.” Xee remarked.

“Smart. There are, but the thirteenth gate takes you to a whole new level of gates. Think otherworld planets. Planes of existence, hell, realms if it makes it easier for you to grasp.”

Like she was some novice historian with no experience at all.

“The H.I.V.E houses the eleventh hour. I’ll introduce you to the keeper another time. He tends to be grumpy.”

The door smoothly slid open and they passed through without incident. The air was moist and a fine mist coated her skin as they descended a set of stone stairs. Darkness surrounded her on all sides. Xee could see nothing as she tried to navigate the void. She didn’t want to ask the Angel for help. There was a time she had to sleep with the lights on, but now she battled back the fear, kicked it to the curb, and fought for her calm as they made their way in the dark.

Gabe stopped and Xee tripped, tumbling into him. Or would have had she known that in front of her was a straight drop hurtling her into a dark abyss. She was falling, plummeting into nothing. She tried to grab air but couldn’t scream because the breath she was trying to release was at the bottom of her feet. Her stomach threatened to empty her breakfast and her ears felt full of cotton. Strong arms wrapped around her waist as another gust of wind enfolded her into Gabe’s arms. It knocked what little air she had left out of chest, causing her to cough. Everywhere he touched, her skin tingled. She hissed and gritted her teeth in aggravation as she held on tight. How close had she’d come to falling to her death? All because she couldn’t see in the dark. There had to be lights. The heat of his breath fanned her cheek, her hands unwillingly locked around his neck in a tight grip as she held on to him and waited to reach the bottom.

”I’m sorry Blossom. It didn’t occur to me you couldn’t see. I’m usually the only one down here.”

“Duh! I’m human aside from my Para-housed. I don’t have any special powers. I can’t see shit!”

She felt his body shake and knew he was trying to hold in his laughter. He was so warm and hard in all the right places that she had to adjust her own hands, because they were no longer around his neck, but pressed against the wall of his well-muscled chest. He whispered something in a language she didn’t understand, and then there was light.

Xee’s eyes adjusted to the room. She realized very quickly that although she was holding onto Gabe, there was nothing holding on to him. There was no floor and from what she could tell, no ceiling. She clutched him tighter; this time instead of his neck, she was clawing his shoulders.

“What the hell Angel Boy?” She practically screamed. He didn’t respond, but pulled her tighter so that her body was flush against his. Blood roared in her ears and fire filled her veins with something she’d never expected. Need. For a man. She was having all kinds of feeling for the opposite sex, and that just
never
happened. Sure, she was attracted to them, but she never acted on her desires. Women were easier to manage, whereas men wanted to control every aspect of any sort of arrangement they entered into.
“Who said we were entering into an arrangement?”

She ignored Micah.

“I assumed you could see in the dark,’ he whispered along the shell of her ear. Her eyes closed on their own accord as his arms tightened around her waist. He flew them to the safety of the stairs. The stairs that had a very sharp curve that if one were to walk in the dark, they’d fall right off its ledge. She took in her surroundings; the stairs were embedded into the wall of the mountain that continued its descent disappearing into nothing.

“Where are we?”

“Inside the H.I.V.E. It’s a catacomb of interlocking systems that connect to different places. It houses command central, but before that it was mostly used as a travel system energized by part of the Earth’s core. The magnetic field allows for travel.”

Xee looked around.

“I don’t see any magma around here and it’s not hot either.” It was moist, maybe a bit humid but for the most part, it wasn’t suffocating. His smile was desire inducing, and to block out the need that was building, she bit her lip hard until she was sure she tasted blood.

“That’s because what you refer to as magma is part of the core. Like any living organisms there are defenses, some natural other’s not so natural. The Earth’s defense is its magma. There is no threat with us here, therefore no magma. I don’t have time to give you a lesson, but the Earth’s true core is a little more complicated and a lot more dangerous.” He hesitated a heartbeat before he made one last comment. “And stop biting your lip, it distracts me.”

He should be one to talk.

They made their way down the stairs and with the light now guiding their way, she marveled at all she saw. Blue florescent light swirled in waves, as they got closer to the bottom. It was like an ocean of blue fire, only it wasn’t hot.

“Next time when you come down, and you’re alone. Repeat these words.
Forae duc tor blare.”

“Um, you’re gonna need to write that down Angel Boy.”

He stared at her for a moment, eyeing her again from head to toe before raising his arrogant brow in question and kept moving forward. Much later, they reached the bottom going through another door. The blue light below was abundant with life. She could see that now that she was closer. Things she’d never seen before, some beautiful, other’s downright nightmarish.

“In here.”

Gabe pulled open a metal door and lights illuminated a row of computers, complete with multi-monitors and keyboards.

“Now this, I can dig.”

For the next couple of hours they worked side by side. It wasn’t really training but a collaboration as they scoured search engine after search engine for anything they could find on the Sahidic. There was even an Immortal Search Database. ISD as Gabe kept referring to it and it was filled with everything any geek person could ever want. She was in heaven. It wasn’t until she pushed off her chair that she realized she hadn’t heard a peep out of Micah.

“Micah?”
Nothing.

“Dude, seriously, stop fucking around.”
Still nothing. She was about to panic when she felt something stir in the back of her mind.

“Micah?”

“Yeah, princess sugar britches keep your thong on. I’m just chilin. Now get back to work.”
Xee couldn’t help but smile.

“What are you so happy about?” Gabe asked next to her.

“Just talking to my bro Micah.”