Crossroads (34 page)

“
Ryan, you’re drunk. Happy
birthday,” I said and started to walk away, when Ryan grabbed me
and swung me around to face him. I wondered how he even got drunk
since alcohol was prohibited at the party.

Michael grabbed Ryan’s wrist to free
me and commanded, “Don’t you ever touch her again.”

Ryan fell to his knees from the pain
of Michael’s grip, and that’s when his friends huddled behind
him.

I gave Michael a look to let him know
I was fine, and he let go of Ryan’s wrist. “He’s drunk and won’t
remember a thing tomorrow morning,” I said loud enough for his
friends to hear.

“
You stink like hell,”
Michael said angrily to Ryan.

“
Let’s go, Ryan,” Jake
said and pulled him away. Jake turned to me. “Sorry, Claudia. You
know how he can get. He still cares for you.”

“
No, I vant…Clauvia,” Ryan
slurred again, rubbing his sore wrist.

“
You’re making a fool of
yourself. Good thing your parents left early,” Jake said, pulling
him further away from us.

Ryan looked at me, with sorrow in his
eyes. I knew I had hurt him, but I didn’t realize how much until
tonight. Michael continued to glare at him until he was out of
sight. We walked toward the rest of our group. Michael held my
hand, guiding me behind him in a protective mode, as
usual.

Chapter 22

Michael didn’t say a word to the
alkins. In fact, he seemed to be content. He sat next to me with
his arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t believe we were here all
together like everything was normal. With Michael here, the night
was definitely perfect. Suddenly the ceiling started to open up.
Everybody was admiring it, with their eyes glued to the starlight
that gradually beamed into the room.

“
Now we know why they call
this the Grand View Room,” Maggie said, as she continued to
stare.

I could only imagine what others were
saying as they pointed to the top. As the roof of the hotel
completely disappeared, the DJ played the “Happy Birthday” song and
we all sang together. Singing and staring out into the open space,
I spotted Orion and immediately thought about Austin. I hadn’t
spoken to him in days. He was expecting my phone call after the
hospital, but I didn’t bother to call.

Suddenly, I became aware that I didn’t
know what time it was. “Is it late?” I asked, panicking.

“
It’s midnight,” Kristina
replied.

“
What!” I couldn’t believe
it. “I’m supposed to be home.” I sank down further into Michael’s
arm.

Vivian looked at Davin with a worried
expression.

“
I can take you home right
now,” Michael said looking at me, waiting for my
response.

Then I remembered Mom was working the
late shift tonight. Talking myself out of the guilt for missing my
curfew, I told myself that it could happen just this once. After
all, when would I ever get this chance again? “Actually, my mom is
working late. She won’t know. It will be okay,” I said, hoping that
it would be.

“
Are you sure?” Michael
asked, uncertain of my decision.

“
Yes,” I answered back
confidently.

It was quiet at our table, and I
hadn’t realized all eyes were on me until Kristina broke the
silence. “Should we dance again?” Kristina asked, swaying to the
music.

Everyone stood up except Michael and
me. “You all go ahead. Claudia and I need to talk,” Michael
said.

They all left for the dance floor and
Michael turned to me. “I missed you every second,” he whispered
into my ear as he gently caressed my hair. Then he placed his hands
on my cheeks. “I’ve tried so hard just being the guardian angel
that I’m supposed to be, but I can’t control the human emotions I
feel. It drives me absolutely crazy when I’m not with you. Every
thought of you awakens me. You’ve changed me in ways I can’t
explain. I don’t know if you would call it fate that somehow our
worlds have connected, but for whatever reason, our lives will
never be the same.”

All I could do was look at my guardian
angel who loved me back. Many times I had to pinch myself to
realize that this wasn’t a dream. Yes, I did believe that things
happened for a reason, but this was too good to be true. He was
right. Our lives would never be the same.

“
How were you able to come
here when I’m not even in danger? Isn’t Phillip expecting all of
you back soon?”

“
I told Phillip that we
needed to be down here more often. He surprisingly
agreed.”

“
That’s wonderful,” I said
happily.

Tenderly he cupped my cheeks with his
hands again. “I missed you madly,” he said.

“
I missed you too,” I said
back. “I know that our relationship isn’t normal, but there’s got
to be a way we can be together, isn’t there?” I asked with a
hopeful look.

“
Let’s talk about it
later. Let’s enjoy tonight.”

“
About tonight, I just
wanted to get away, and I thought coming to this dance would kind
of take my mind off things.”

“
I’m glad you came. You
could have danced with other guys if you wanted. Although if you
had, it would have made me feel jealous.”

“
Seriously? You would be
jealous?”

“
As silly as it sounds,
yes.”

“
Do you know what it means
to feel jealous?” I knew this was a silly question to ask, but
there were many feelings they were trained to put aside for so many
years.

“
I think so, like when I
overheard Kristina tell Vivian something about Ryan being your
boyfriend.”

“
Ex-boyfriend,” I said
quickly.

“
I felt something strange
in the pit of my stomach. It was hate and anger at the same time,”
he said calmly.

“
Yeah, I know the
feeling,” I said, remembering the nurse who was flirting with him.
Then I laughed softly, thinking how strong this feeling was that
could get anyone all worked up.

He leaned closer. “Let’s not talk
about other people,” he said, nuzzling my neck and then up to my
cheek. Then he softly planted kisses on both my cheeks. “That one
was for Monday and the other one was for Tuesday, when I wasn’t
with you.” He kissed my forehead. “That one was for Wednesday.” He
kissed my nose. “That one was for Thursday. This one is for
today.”

He leaned over to kiss me on my lips
when we heard Davin clear his throat. We looked up to see Davin and
the others giggling and waving.

“
Claudia, we have to go,”
Kristina said. “Maggie and I came together, and we didn’t ask if we
could stay out that late.”

I stood up and gave Maggie and
Kristina a hug. “Thanks,” I said to Kristina. “Thanks for talking
me into coming. I really had a great time.”

“
I’m glad, and I’m really
sorry about Gamma,” she said and gave me a tight squeeze. Then she
looked at me with a huge grin. “When did you hook up with
Michael?”

“
Long story. Tell you
later,” I said. At that moment I thought about Patty. Somehow I had
to tell her about Michael, although I couldn’t tell her the whole
truth. One way or another, she would find out that he was at Ryan’s
birthday party, and she would be devastated that I hadn’t told her
first. I just had to find the right time.

Maggie gave me a tight squeeze too and
said her good-byes to my so-called cousins. I watched them walk
across the dance floor until they were out of sight.

It was way past midnight, and all the
guests had already left. The only ones left were the cleanup crew.
Michael used his powers on them and they left. We had the room to
ourselves.

“
I had so much fun. I’ll
never forget tonight. This is one memory they can’t take from me,”
Vivian said as she looked around the room. Then she said suddenly,
“Michael, Claudia’s necklace is made from the crystal of our home,
correct?”

Michael didn’t say a word, instead he
just nodded.

I gently placed my hand on the crystal
to confirm that it was still there.

“
That crystal turns black
when danger is nearby,” Vivian stated.

“
I’ve never seen one
before,” Caleb said.

“
That’s because we never
needed one before, but this was Michael’s idea. Phillip doesn’t
know. Pretty cool if you ask me,” she said.

Caleb looked at Michael with a
concerned look on his face. “Michael, where were you all this time?
And were you able to find the answers you were searching
for?”

Just as Michael was about to speak, he
suddenly glued his eyes on me. Everyone was looking at me, and
that’s when I realized my crystal had turned black. The ceiling had
almost completely closed when Aden and his followers slipped
through the small opening.

Vivian and Caleb leaped out of their
seats and pulled out their swords. Michael grabbed me so fast that
I didn’t realize I was standing next to him.

“
We came to join the
party.” Aden smiled, pleased with himself for completely
blindsiding us. “We can make this easy. Just hand her over to
me.”

“
Over my dead body,”
Michael said angrily. He expanded his wings to protect and cover me
entirely. “I will kill you if I have to, and I will do everything
in my power to stop you.”

“
Michael, just listen to
yourself. You would die over this one? How noble you have become.
The Michael I knew would have done the killing for me.”

Michael didn’t say
anything.

“
I can’t believe this. You
are in love with this one. How could you allow this? You have
broken one of the Divine Commandments. How many others have you
broken?”

“
You have no right to
question me. How many have you broken? And what do you know about
love?” Michael replied.

“
Love is evil. It makes
you weak. See what love made you do. You are lost!”

“
You are absolutely wrong.
It makes you stronger. Amor tussisque non celantur.”

“
Enough!” Aden shouted.
“Come and join me, and you can be with her forever.”

“
Never! I followed you
once before, and I promised myself that I would never do it again,”
Michael replied.

“
Very well. Let’s do this
your way. Die!” he shouted with an evil laugh that sent chills to
my bones.

Vivian and Caleb positioned their
backs to each other.

“
Stay close to me,”
Michael commanded.

Michael’s feet were shoulder-width
apart. He curled his fingers around the grip of his sword, and his
right foot slid back, pulling his entire body into a fighting
stance. The fallen and demons were creeping closer, and my heart
pounded with anticipation. It seemed as though the number had
tripled from the last encounter. My palms became damp, and the
adrenaline ran through my veins so fast that I could feel my blood
pressure skyrocketing.

“
There are too many of
them. Where’s Davin?” Vivian asked, thrusting her sword forward and
backward, trying to keep them at a distance.

“
I saw him walking
Claudia’s friends to their car,” Caleb replied, extending his arm,
lunging forward as the fallen backed away.

“
Right behind you! Always
talking about me, how sweet!” Davin shouted, as he entered the
room.

Michael swung his sword to his right,
piercing a demon right in his ribs. With his free hand, he rammed
his fist into a fallen’s face to his left. The fallen flew across,
only to tumble on top of more fallen, breaking the tables and
chairs as they collided. Michael then dodged a swipe, lost his
balance, and fell to his knees. I gasped in horror, but quickly
calmed when I saw him back on his feet. As he swung vertically to
block an attack, he yelled, “Down, Claudia!” The look of terror in
his eyes made me move without hesitation. I ducked down as Michael
lashed right above me, slicing through a demon’s neck. Michael
swiftly enclosed me behind him.

Across the room, I saw a demon grab
Caleb by his neck and slam him against the table. His weapon
slipped out of his hand, leaving him defenseless. Out of nowhere I
saw a smaller sword dart across the room to pierce precisely into
the demon’s back, just as he was about to thrust his sword into
Caleb. The demon bellowed out in pain, dropping to the floor. At
that moment, I exhaled, not realizing I had held my breath the
entire time.