Salvation (The Guardian Angel Series Book 3) (3 page)

“Eli is… Eli, I guess. He doesn’t seem to socialize with me, or anyone for that matter, and since Gerald Harbor he seems more… anti-social than usual.”

My brow furrowed. I’d never seen Eli as a loner who preferred to be on his own. In the beginning, when I was a vampire, he did come across a little reserved and hard, but that quickly melted away and we grew close. By leaving, did I deter him from socializing with his co-workers? Had I broken him down to the point where he felt the need to alienate himself? I swallowed hard. I couldn’t bear the thought. What if I saw him and he never wanted talks to me again? In a way, I guess I wouldn’t blame him.

“Well.” I cleared my throat. “Gerald Harbor was hard for everyone.”

Silence fell in the car. I bit my lip, fighting against my flood of questions.

“You have a guardian whistle?” Xavier asked, glancing sideways at the tip of the whistle sticking out of the side pocket of my bag. I pulled it out again and hung it in front of me, admiring it.

“Yeah, I, uh, I forgot to give it back when I left.”

Xavier’s face was stern, but the tiniest spark of sympathy flashed in his dark brown eyes. I stuffed the whistle back into my bag and folded my arms across my chest.

Xavier twisted his hands over the steering wheel nervously. “Permission to speak freely?”

I choked back an awkward chuckle. “Say whatever you want, I’m not a queen.”

That’s the thing with guardian angels; they always acted so professional around us. They worked for us, mostly, as protection against vampires and they risked their lives to protect us regularly. They always put us first—placing us up high on a pedestal, like they owed us something. They owe us nothing, if anything, we owe them.

“Some say that you and Eli…” He paused and a strange, nervous pang hit my stomach. “Were involved?”

I opened my mouth to speak but only an exasperated gust of air came out. I guess some of the guardians at Sage were aware of my and Eli’s previous situation.

“No, yes—I don’t know. It’s complicated.”

I shoved the whistle back into my bag, hoping he’d drop the subject.

“I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay. It’s just strange talking about it. It feels like so long ago.”

“Well, for the record, I think it’s a great thing that you guys stood up to the higher power. Who has the right to force you to love someone you don’t want to? You love who you love and that’s who you love. It’s not easy to just switch it off. Things have changed. The higher power was a vampire, for crying out loud. It’s about time everything else changes, too.”

I smiled to myself. Xavier spoke with such passion and understanding, like he was going through the same internal struggles that Eli and I had gone through.

“Who is she?” I pried.

“Who?”

“The goddess you so obviously have feelings for.”

Briefly, he glanced at me, wide eyed.

“C’mon,” I nudged him. “There was way too much emotion in your voice to pass it off as a random thought. You’re going through the same kind of thing, aren’t you?”

The corners of his lips twitched as he fought against a smirk. “Fine. Maybe there is a goddess I
may
have feelings for.”

I enjoyed playing along with this conversation. It kept my mind from obsessing over my upcoming personal battles.

“Who is it?”

I wondered if I could put a face to a name. He smacked his lips together and tapped the steering wheel.

“I don’t know if I should tell you. She’s kind of my boss’s daughter.”

“Ooh, doubly forbidden. If you’re worried I’m going to tell someone, don’t be. I’m not exactly the poster girl for following the rules. You can trust me, I won’t say a word.”

I did the cheesy ‘cross my heart’ gesture and he chuckled.

“Her name is Mila Aleksandrov. She’s Ivan’s niece.”

Oh.
My excited smile faltered and he glanced at me nervously.

“Well, this is awkward.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

“What is?”

I tapped my fingers against my knee. “Mila is my best friend.”

Xavier ran a hand through his hair, clearly irritated. “It seems that information about you is on a need-to-know basis. Look, you’re not going to tell her, are you? What if she tells her dad and he fires me, or
worse,
banishes me?”

His voice was fast and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. I was confused. What did he mean by Aleksandrov banishing him?

“Aleksandrov can’t banish you,” I muttered.

“I guess you’re on a
need-to-know
basis as well,” Xavier replied flatly. “Ivan Aleksandrov is the new higher power. Tomorrow night is a celebration in his honour. Mr Aleksandrov informed the council that the previous higher power had been corrupted, that he was no longer pure and was a vampire.”

“The council?”

He glanced at me sideways, as if questioning if I was even a goddess. “The four gods and four goddesses that run the show. You have heard of them, haven’t you?”

Of course I should know these things, but I didn’t, and I was okay with that. In my experience, knowing things made your life more stressful, perhaps ignorance
is
actually bliss.

I frowned. “I thought the higher power ran the show?”

“The higher power is more or less a figurehead. There’s always a bigger fish.”

In my seat, I crossed my legs and stared out into the blurry forest.

“How was Lucian able to hide the fact he was a vampire? If they’re so mighty, they should have known.”

“According to Eli, Lucian has various estates across the world, the most recent one being on top of Mount Kuuce. He likes his privacy and he was doing his job, so the council didn’t feel the need to interfere. So, now you can see that Aleksandrov
can
banish me if he finds out about my feelings for Mila.”

“He won’t banish you. He’s on our side. He wants us to be with who we love, or at least, that was the impression he gave me when I saw him last.”

Xavier shrugged. “I’m not going to risk it.”

His statement saddened me, if not for love, then what else? I was willing to risk everything for Eli except one thing, and that was his life. Leaving him was the most selfless and selfish thing I’d ever done, but I didn’t regret it.

When eight p.m. rolled up on us, I forced Xavier to pull over. I was already nauseous, I didn’t need the cars swerving and jerking to make it worse.

“This is my first real mission. I just want to impress them,” he admitted, brushing a hand roughly over his face.

He glanced at me, his brown eyes no longer wide and semi-alert, but two tired slits.

“If I die before I get there, I don’t think they’ll be too impressed.”

I unclipped my seatbelt and wrapped my fingers around the door handle. “Let me drive for the next few hours and we can switch back before we get to Sage. They don’t need to know that I drove while you slept.”

Xavier exhaled, deep in thought. Realistically, I was giving him an ultimatum not an option, and I think he knew that. There was no way I was going to let him drive another centimeter and if he didn’t get out of the driver’s seat now, I was ready to put on my toddler pants and throw a tantrum. I’m good at those.

“Fine, but wake me when we get to the Sage forest line.”

I nodded and slid out of the passenger seat. Xavier laid down on the back seat and immediately fell asleep. I didn’t have to adjust the driver’s seat like I had to when I took over from Eli once. Xavier was my height, so the seat was perfect.

The highway was empty at night, which made the drive that much more relaxing. The road was only visible in the long patch of brightness from the headlights. The white lines that separated the lanes blurred into one. The forest along both sides of the road was like a black wall that grew thicker the further I drove. Afraid of hitting an animal, I flicked my high beams on.

My knuckles turned white as I squeezed the steering wheel tightly. I was antsy and running out of things to take my mind of Eli. I propped my elbow on the window and rested my head on my hand.
I can’t believe I’m going back
. I told myself that even if Lucian and Hunter were gone, I still wouldn’t go back. Not after all the pain my disappearing would’ve put Mila and Eli through.

“No turning back now,” I whispered.

I hit the gas pedal hard as I drove down the highway. The quicker I got there, the quicker I could get this over and done with.

Long-time no see

L
ike I promised Xavier, I pulled over at the beginning of the Sage forest line and woke him. He was still tired, a few hours’ sleep wasn’t enough to satisfy his fatigue, but it was enough to get us to Sage. I was feeling tired now, and as a result, neither of us spoke the rest of the way.

Sage Sanctum was as I remembered it except for the new, huge wrought iron gates that now replaced the boom gates at the entrance. If this was the only safety measure they took, it was pointless. Let’s just hope those charms were enough because I’m sure any vampire could scale the fence without breaking a sweat. It was midnight, and the bright lights that shone down onto the car park blinded any natural light from the moon. The car park was a sea of black Audi Q5s. After much searching, we finally found a space right at the back.

Xavier turned off the car and its low hum disappeared. Then it hit me, really hit me. I was at Sage Sanctum for the first time in over a year. I couldn’t tell if it was just me being weird or if the atmosphere actually
did
feel different.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to your lodgings so you can get some rest.”

Thankfully, the gate to the teacher’s area was close to the car park and I didn’t have to walk through the student campus. I signed a few release forms and then entered. Xavier walked me past Eli’s house. With every step I took, I grew more and more tense. There was a faint glow under his cream curtains and my heartbeat sped up. I dropped my stare to my white running shoes, making sure it didn’t linger on his house for too long. I didn’t want Xavier making any more comments on ‘loving who you love’ or whatever he said.

I didn’t have to walk far from Eli’s house to get to my own. A few short streets down and we reached the visitors’ lodgings. They were piled next to each other, like giant pieces of Lego. Being so close to him but not seeing him was torture. Xavier put my bag down on the small, white porch and pulled a cell phone out from his pocket. He dialed a few numbers and then hit call. I leaned against a light brown support beam that held up the porch. It was hard, but I could’ve easily fallen asleep against it.

“Mr Aleksandrov sir… yes… she’s here… Okay… will do… bye.” He hung up and put the black touch screen back into his pants.

“Mr Aleksandrov will be here soon. You might want to go in and unpack a little.”

I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulders. I opened the door and rubbed the cold wall, looking for a light switch. My fingers ran over the switch and I flicked it on. To the left of the door was a small living room area with a couch, a bookcase, and the smallest fireplace I had ever seen. Tucked against the wall to my right was a small kitchen, fitted with a dishwasher, stainless steel sink, and a coffee machine. In the back left corner was a door, which had to be the bedroom. There was no other door, so my guess was the bathroom adjoined the bedroom. I stepped inside and almost instantly the place made me feel more welcome and relaxed than my shitty apartment did in a whole year. I felt at home.

Xavier entered behind me and stood by the front door, arms folded tightly across his chest, looking all professional like in his guardian uniform. Impressive? Yes. I admire their dedication and professionalism, but no guardian angel could wear the uniform the way Eli did and provoke that thrilling feeling in my stomach.

The cool metal of the door handle felt right in my hand and I turned it. Creaking slightly, the door opened. To my surprise, the room was quite spacious. Like the rest of the house, the walls were white. The light of the moon filtered in through the semi-drawn blinds, making patterns on the light blue duvet of the double bed. I threw my bag down onto the bed and started unpacking. It would only take a few seconds to pull everything out and put it in a drawer. I didn’t bring much and I was planning on leaving again after Mr Aleksandrov’s party. If they found me in Gerald Harbor, there’s no doubt they’d find me here. Besides that, I needed something—anything to distract me from running down to Eli’s house and begging his forgiveness. A soft knock brought my attention back to the door.

“Ruby?”

I turned and met Xavier’s smiling, but still so very tired, face.