Broken Butterflies (10 page)

She wanted him to wake up, but at the same time didn’t. The fear of not knowing what to say filled her. Ilisha wanted him, all of him, but he was holding back. She had to assume that meant he didn’t want to go there. Relenting for the night, she walked back to her room and shut the door. She grabbed her pillow and wrapped her arms around it.

When the sun rose the tension was gone. Bram was all smiles, and his good mood rubbed off on her. She made them breakfast which helped to get rid of her food supply. Bram ate two heaping plates of French toast and sausage. Ilisha chuckled as he poured more syrup on.

“What?” he asked, talking with his mouth full.

“If you keep eating like that, you’ll discover the human joys of fighting weight loss.”

“Can’t help it, I’m hungry.”

“Aaalll the time,” Ilisha said, laughing.

Boxes were stacked in almost every nook and cranny of the apartment. She had ordered the boxes online before they left Eldorado Springs and had them delivered here to save time. “It looks like a hoarder lives here,” Ilisha said as she walked the narrow path between them.

Bram answered the door when the movers arrived.

“I’m glad Amy helped me get this move set up,” Ilisha said.

The two burly men jumped right in and with the four of them working hard, they had everything loaded in three hours. Ilisha called Amy and got the address of her new rental.

“I can’t believe you’re taking it without seeing it first,” Amy replied.

“I trust you.”

Bram took his turn driving, knowing that the truck would take longer to get to Colorado than they would, he decided to take the scenic route. “I can’t believe you’re making me see the largest ball of twine,” Ilisha said as they traveled along Route 17 in Minnesota.

“Hey, it’s pop culture.”

“Stupid culture,” she corrected.

“Not if you’re a cat.”

Ilisha laughed so hard she snorted. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, I love it.”

She rolled her eyes. Bram practically leapt from the car when they parked in front of the twine ball. His eyes didn’t blink as he read the plaque. Ilisha snapped some pictures of him. As they walked back to the car he said, “Let’s eat.”

Stopping at a diner, they stayed just long enough to eat and move on. Bram tipped the waitress and drove them to their next destination, Mount Rushmore.

“Now, this is something worth seeing,” Ilisha said, smiling. She turned her MP3 player to the band Kansas and played Dust in the Wind.

“Nice song,” Bram said.

“My dad loved this song when we went on road trips.”

Bram’s mood shifted. His fingers curled tight around the wheel. “It’s time,” he said grinding his teeth.

Ilisha didn’t say anything. Her eyes scanned the area around them.

As they rounded a curve, Damon stood ahead in the distance. Ilisha grabbed onto the “Oh shit handle” and braced herself.

Though the car drew closer, he didn’t move and Bram stepped on the gas.

“What are you doing?” Ilisha asked panicked.

“Trust me,” he replied.

Seeing Damon smile through the windshield sent chills up her spine. Just before the car would have hit him, Bram cranked the wheel and the rear of the car swung around, just missing Damon’s knees. In the same moment Bram jumped out the door, and the car nudged into a guardrail. Ilisha sat paralyzed not sure what the best action would be. She didn’t want to be trapped in the car. As she exited, Bram took Damon by the throat and slammed him to the pavement as if he were a rag doll. Damon countered by rolling over and breaking Bram’s grasp. Within seconds, he charged Bram, slamming his back into a tree along the road. The force was so great the massive tree tipped over with a crack, exposing the roots.

Both of their wings took full span at the same time, and they lifted into the air. Twirling circles of black and white rotated above Ilisha’s head. Random black and white feathers drifted to the ground around her, tinged with silver blood, and black blood.

Bram broke loose and held himself suspended for a brief second. His eyes glanced down at Ilisha, who was stricken with fear. Turning back to Damon, he streaked across the sky slamming into him. Both sets of bodies tumbled to the ground. Ilisha shrieked and her hands went to her mouth. The impact threw a cloud of dirt and debris up into the air. She moved forward, but stopped as the dust cleared. Ilisha could see Bram was on top of Damon hitting him in the face; each punch echoing throughout the area. She could hear the bones breaking as Bram twisted Damon’s arms. With every bone snap, Damon let out a feral growl. Before Ilisha could focus on what happened Damon disappeared. He didn’t break Bram’s grasp, he simply faded away. Bram was left on his knees looking at the ground and out of breath.

Running to him, Ilisha tripped and scraped her arms on the pavement. Scrambling up, she pushed forward until she fell on top of him. Her arms wrapped around his chest as his wings retracted.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” she asked panicked. Her hands ran over his body checking for injuries.

Bram took her hands in his saying, “I’ll be fine.”

With wide eyes Ilisha tried to break free of his grasp. “I saw the blood.”

Ilisha shoved against his shoulder urging him to turn to his side. His torso was marked with a massive gash.

“It will heal,” he said, forcing her to look into his eyes. “I promise. See?” He pointed to the area. The six inch gash closed, leaving nothing but some dried metallic blood.

Ilisha ran her fingers over the slight scar left behind.

“I told you it would heal.” He smiled reassuringly.

“I don’t understand what happened. Damon didn’t make one move for me, why?”

“Because he knows I’m with you. He wants to eliminate the threat.”

“Now I know what happened in the park,” she said numb.

Bram froze for a second, looking off in the distance.

“What is it?” she asked, putting her hand on his bare chest.

“There’s a car coming. We need to move.”

He walked to her car as if nothing happened. No limping or moaning.

He popped the trunk and fished a t-shirt out of his bag. “If this keeps up, I’ll need some more shirts.”

Ilisha hurried and shut the car door. Bram backed up and drove away from the destruction.

A minivan passed them coming from the other direction. Ilisha turned around and could see them break for the tree blocking the road. It was covered in black and white dust. Bram stepped on the gas.

“It’s just a downed tree,” she said, wondering what the urgency was about.

“Maybe so, but there’s no wind and no storm, I don’t want to take the chance.”

“What happens if someone knows the truth about you?”

“Nothing; you know about me, but it’s not good for humans to know what surrounds them.”

“Why?” she questioned.

“Wouldn’t want to burst their bubble of a world they think they control. In the past, it led to hunts and killings.”

“Killing of angels?” she asked shocked.

“Yes, they looked at us as a threat.”

“How do you kill an angel?”

“A human can’t kill an angel. But demons blend into the population and inspire the chaos. The more of us they kill, the more chaos they create, but to answer your question, the methods are the same as humans. The difference is we heal quickly, so inflicting injury needs to be so rapid we don’t have time to heal.”

“So someone could—” she waved her hands thinking. “Stab you?”

“A demon, yes. A human would never have the strength to harm me.”

Ilisha gave him a mischievous smile and said, “So if I decked you in the nose, you wouldn’t feel it?”

Bram chuckled. “I’d feel it, but it’d do nothing. There’d be no pain and no damage.”

“Huh, interesting.”

Ilisha’s eyes were heavy, so she let her head lean on the window and soon fell asleep. She woke when the car stopped. Her eyes opened in the parking lot of Mount Rushmore.

“You still want to see this?” she asked groggy.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“I just thought after the thing with Damon, you wouldn’t want to stop.”

“Don’t be silly.” He smiled and got out, opening the passenger door. Come on!”

Ilisha gave herself a once over in the mirror and stepped out. Bram got them a brochure and bottled water. As they walked, he took her hand. Ilisha made no move to stop him; it felt natural. They spent a couple hours in the park before leaving. Bram never let go of her hand until they got back to the car.

“I think we need to get out of this touristy area before we get a hotel,” Ilisha said.

They were only seven hours from home, but stopped in a small town named Torrington and got a motel room. No other intimate gesture was made by Bram, which made her a little sad. Bram walked in the bathroom to shower, leaving the door open a crack. Ilisha put her suitcase on the luggage rack and rifled through it looking for pajamas. Finding them, she turned and caught a glimpse of Bram in the bathroom mirror. He was adjusting the water and his backside faced her. She could see the marks where his wings came out of his back; the skin was slightly darker. Her mouth opened slightly as she took in his perfect butt. Ilisha stared, unable to take her eyes off him, until he threw back the shower curtain and climbed in. She put on her pajamas and crawled into the one bed they would be sharing.

Bram came out toweling his head, fully clothed.

“Sorry for the one bed,” Ilisha said. “It’s all they had.”

“No problem. I can sleep on the floor.”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor,” she protested.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked to see what was on TV. “It’s no problem,” he smiled.

“Yeah, it is. Come on.” She pulled the covers back and patted the bed in a friendly manner.

He tossed his towel on the floor and crawled in. She noticed that he kept as much distance between them as possible.

She twirled her hair up in a bun and got comfortable.

Her dreams took her to a pleasant place. Walking in a white, flowing nightgown, her shoulders bare and a breeze playing with the ruffled hem, she met Bram in a thick forest. The moon shone brightly, creating a blue hue over the trees. He reached out and pulled her to him. Placing her face in his hands, their lips met softly, filling her skin with goose bumps. Ilisha let her hand drift down his stomach, over his pants, and took hold of him. Bram moaned, and his wings exploded from his back. Their kissing became more frantic as she unbuttoned his pants. Just as her hand plunged into his underwear she sat straight up in the bed.

She clutched her breasts and looked over at him. His wings lay across his back taking up most of the bed. They brushed against her skin with velvet strokes as his diaphragm constricted. Moving as little as possible she got up and went into the bathroom. She splashed cool water on her face and leaned on the counter.
Think, Lish. Are you falling in love with him?

Bram knocked on the door causing her to jump. Taking a second to compose herself, she opened it smiling. “Hey.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just had a bad dream.” She waved her hand in the air blowing it off.

He took her hand. “What was it about?”

Oh shit.
She thought fast. “Damon. I’m sure it’s just stress.”

He led her out of the bathroom and back to the bed. Despite the fact her heart was racing, she kept the calm smile across her face. Working in the E.R. had taught her how to hide her emotions. She went to lie back on her pillow, but instead he cradled her in his arms. Ilisha swallowed hard, not sure what to expect. Bram lay on his back and nestled her to his chest. She closed her eyes and took in the moment. The fact that he wanted to comfort her over a bad dream just made her feelings explode.

Despite her inner protests, she relaxed and placed her arm across his torso. His even breathing and the beat of his heart took her stress away. Ilisha never felt like she needed a man to protect her, but since Bram came into her life she appreciated how devoted he was to her.