Guardian (27 page)

“I was
so sure
he would make a move!” she protested as we walked to homeroom. “He must have had a bad childhood experience with women or something. I just can’t figure it out.”

Believe me,
I thought, collapsing into my desk.
It’s so complicated, you don’t even want to.

School crawled by that day, and when the last bell finally rang, I was out like a rocket. Colton and Grace had to run to keep up with me, and I reached the car first, opening the door and swinging my siblings inside to get on the move faster. When I got into the front seat, Rafael was looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“What?” I asked defensively, fastening my seatbelt.

“In a hurry to get somewhere?” he asked.

“Just to see you,” I said lightly, and then quickly before he could get the wrong idea, “and Rachel and Naomi and the others. Also, we should leave before Natalie gets here. She’s obsessed with finding out exactly what traumatic childhood experience keeps you from dating me. Thanks again for taking me to the dance. If I’d gone with someone at school, she’d be setting us up on romantic cafeteria lunches. Matchmaking may not be her strong suit, but it sure is her passion.”

Rafael chuckled, and I relaxed as we drove out of the lot.

“So, where are we going?” I asked as we went deeper downtown, instead of toward home or the park.

“Rachel and Matthias stayed with Damian yesterday, while the rest of us were out patrolling. They’ve heard his story, and they’ve agreed to take Colton and Grace to COSI with Naomi while we go and hear Damian’s story.” He looked at me from across the car. “I knew you would want to hear it personally as well.”

“I appreciate that,” I said, touched by Rafael’s thoughtfulness. I was interested to hear not just what had happened to Damian, but if he had been hurt or kidnapped, how it had been done. I wanted to know what could possibly hurt Rafael, and what I had to be worried about.

“And so, if it’s all right with all of you, we’ll drop Colton and Grace off and head to the warehouse.”

I turned around in my seat to face my siblings. “What do you say, guys? COSI today?”

They both let out a whoop of delight and I turned around and grinned at Rafael. “They’re willing to suffer through it.”

COSI was a building full of interactive and kid friendly science exhibits. There were ocean rooms and adventure tours, classes and activities, movies and snacks. It was basically a large indoor amusement park that was surprisingly educational. We found Rachel, Matthias, and Naomi and left Colton and Grace with them before driving over to the warehouse and trooping up the steps to the top level.

“You all… should really move… to a hotel with an…
elevator
,” I gasped when we finally reached the top level.

Rafael only laughed and ushered me inside the doorway. I stopped just inside the room, though, because the missing Damian stood almost directly in front of us, staring. He had the same intense gaze as Rafael, the one that had always unsettled me until I had gotten to know him better, because it felt like he could read all my thoughts, see all my secrets. Despite that feeling, with Rafael, I had been intrigued, magnetized. But when Damian looked at me, it almost felt… intrusive. I wasn’t sure I wanted him there, knowing so much about me.

His face, his whole aura radiated that ethereal, strange and timeless beauty of Rafael and the other Fallen. His inky black hair fell in delicate waves over his smooth forehead. His eyes were almost black, heavy and hard to read, crowned by delicate, dark brows. His cheekbones were high, and slightly hallow underneath – the kind I found myself envying in my vainer moments, the kind Hollywood stars went under the knife for. He was tall, like all the Fallen I had met, and I could easily tell he was well muscled underneath the blue jeans and black jacket he wore over a white t-shirt, Rafael style.

“Damian, I’d like you to meet Lyla Evans,” Rafael said. “Lyla, this is Damian, the final member of our flock and one of the seven First.”

“That’s quite a title,” I said, trying for an easy smile as I shook Damian’s hand. Like Rafael’s, it was unnaturally warm for the cool temperature of the warehouse. Unlike Rafael’s, it gave me a chill down my spine, though I couldn’t say why.

“And you have quite the reputation with the rest of my flock,” Damian replied with a flashing grin.

Rafael squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “I’m going to gather the others,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

He stepped away and I watched him go for a moment, then turned back to Damian. I started when he took a step closer, studying me with great interest.

“Rafael was right about you,” Damian said, sounding surprised. “I have to admit, I was skeptical at first.”

“Right about what?” I asked nervously.

Damian took another step closer, so that we were only a little over a foot apart from each other, and spoke softly, “Being near you. The light that you give off. You truly are a remarkable girl, Lyla Evans. I see why Rafael is so enthralled with you.”

I watched as Rafael, tall, strong, and handsome Rafael, gathered the other four Fallen. “He’s not that enthralled with me,” I said quietly.

“On the contrary,” Damian said, now watching Rafael with me. “He can’t seem to stop talking about you. Matthias sings your praises for rescuing Naomi. In a fairly short amount of time, you’ve made friends with two very powerful and influential Fallen.”

The fact that Matthias and Rafael could be influential puzzled me. It wasn’t a very big flock, and while Rafael and Matthias seemed to do most of the leading, there was a fair balance of power in my eyes. “It wasn’t exactly planned, I can assure you,” I muttered in response to his comment.

Damian looked at me for a long moment, and then laughed as the others finally approached us. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a new addition to this floor of the warehouse; a long, oval cherry wood table that could easily fit twelve people. Eight matching chairs surrounded it, along with several more mismatched ones and even a bean bag chair. I settled down, pleased but a little unnerved to find myself between Rafael and Damian. All the other Fallen settled in around us, their unblinking stares settling on Damian. Rafael was the first to speak.

“Where were you all this time, Damian?” he asked. “Why couldn’t we find you? Why didn’t
you
find
us
?”

Damian took a deep inhale. “I was scouting ahead in the city. Daniel and I split up the way we always do. He went west, and I went east. I was through the downtown area and in a suburb when I saw about ten of them. Ten demons, and a Fallen. It was Abram. Once I got down there, hoping to speak with him, or maybe knock some sense into him, I saw Sadie.”

All the angels around me let out a half-groan-half-gasp of horror. I looked to Rafael for explanation, since I had never heard these names before.

Rafael only spared me a quick, uneasy looking glance and explained, “Fallen. They were part of our flock. In 1881 they left. Went back to Lucifer.”

“The change has started to take its toll on them. They look bad,” Damian said, and now concern caused wrinkles around his dark eyes. “I know it was foolish to try and talk to them, with all the demons and all by myself, but I couldn’t help it. I’d hoped to find out where they had been the last hundred years at least. It was no use. They jumped me, tore me apart, really. Unfortunately, it all happened in a public park. A man found me soon after. A doctor.”

Now all the Fallen did groan and this time I required no explanation. The Fallen could heal themselves, I’d seen proof of it myself. Rafael had told me a Fallen wasn’t dead until they had turned to dust. If Damian’s body had still been intact, it meant the doctor could have – must have – seen him heal.

“It’s not as bad as you might think,” Damian said quickly. “It took me a few days to fully recover. Even then, I wasn’t very coherent. Later, I found out why. I finally forced myself out of bed and crawled into the hallway and instantly felt better, and I realized the room he had put me in was above the private chapel in his house.”

“So, he saw you heal? Who is he, exactly?” Daniel demanded.

“His name is Eli St. James.”

Nearly everyone at the table glanced over at me, as though wondering if I knew of the man. I shrugged helplessly. “I’ve never heard of him.”

Damian nodded. “That’s not surprising. He specializes in research. At first I thought I could get away with it, with healing so fast, especially when I found out I had been delirious in that room for almost a month. But he had noticed that my physical wounds were gone the next day, and the delirium wasn’t any kind of fever. I was going to compel him, but when I looked outside, I saw both Abram and Sadie outside the house. I was sure they were waiting for a chance to attack St. James because he helped me, so I stuck around for awhile.”

“Did you ever get to talk to either of them?” Orpah asked, leaning forward and looking extremely worried. “If they’re here, and more and more demons are coming into Columbus every week, well, that doesn’t look good.”

Damian shook his head. “I’m not sure what it means, but I never did get a chance to talk to either of them. After two weeks, they left. I stayed an extra few days to be sure, but they never came back. All I know is, there must be something big that they’re flocking toward, if even the Fallen who have turned back are feeling it as well.”

“What about St. James?” Rafael asked. “Did you compel him after they left?”

“No-o,” Damian said slowly. “St. James wanted to know what I was, how it was possible for me to heal so quickly. I think he had illusions about some miracle cure for cancer, but I set him straight.”

“You
told
him about us?!” Joseph thundered.

Damian leveled a menacing gaze around the table. “St. James undoubtedly saved me. I think the demons and Abram and Sadie only left when he approached. I asked how I could repay him, and he said all he wanted was the truth. So I told him. Not everything, but he’s Catholic, he understood. Sort of.”

Rafael opened his mouth, and I was sure he was going to give Damian a blistering lecture, but his friend gave him a hard look, and I saw Damian’s eyes flick to me, so quickly I almost missed it.

“Don’t preach about rules that you yourself can’t follow,” Damian whispered.

Rafael closed his mouth, his frown deepening.

“So he knows,” Orpah surmised, sharing a look with Sara. “Really, boys, I think that’s the least of our problems. The demons and Sadie and Abram, they should be our priority. We should probably start looking for them, see if any of us can at least catch one of them alone and talk to them. If nothing else, try and find out what might be going on. Abram is probably the better choice, Sadie is still so new.”

I couldn’t keep quiet my small intake of breath at this plan. Damian had been
torn
apart by these Fallen, and now they wanted to go out looking for them? My heart began to pound what felt like a thousand beats a minute. Rafael looked over at me with a small sigh, and I tried to smile at him, but I was so stiff with worry that it was probably more of a grimace.

“I heard them mention something about Cincinnati right before they realized I was there,” Damian offered. “It might be worth a trip down there to see if something similar is happening, or if they left Columbus for the south.”

“Very well. When Matthias and Rachel get back, we’ll discuss what to do next,” Joseph said with a note of finality in his voice, and I realized the meeting was over.

Rafael stood, and I followed his lead, unsure. We left the room and were halfway down the stairs before he spoke.

“Let’s get you home,” he murmured when I caught up to him and we were walking side by side.

Even though I knew from his look during the conversation and his manner now that he didn’t want to tell me, I couldn’t help but ask my question. “Who are Abram and Sadie?”

“I already told you,” he replied, holding the car door open for me. “They’re Fallen who left our flock, years ago.”

“There’s more to it than that,” I insisted as he appeared in the driver’s seat almost out of thin air. “I can tell. Why don’t you want to tell me? Does it have something to do with me?”

“No. Not really,” Rafael said, the nonchalance in his voice only confirming my suspicions.

I wanted to know, desperately, but I didn’t want to push Rafael so soon after our argument, so instead I settled for a different, less urgent question. “Why did they go back?” I asked curiously.

Rafael shrugged, but I could see from the way his hands tightened on the wheel that the subject wasn’t something he liked to talk about. “Why do any of us sin?” he asked cynically. “They decided this life was too hard, that living without feeling God wasn’t worth it in the end. That they didn’t want to wait so long to be returned to heaven.”

“And just like that, they turned evil?” I asked. “Shouldn’t they be in, well, I don’t know, hell?”

Rafael shook his head. “Lucifer will take back anyone, anyone at all, be it human or Fallen, no questions asked. But the Fallen who go back to him usually stay here on earth for a long time, gradually becoming more and more like the demons they used to be. For the time they are still human looking, they can linger, being seen in this world and causing trouble. Once they descend into being demons once more, they are invisible to most humans, like the ones outside the church or the one that attacked Austin.”

My eyes widened in shock. “You looked like one of those demons once?”

“In a manner of speaking. We were more humane, I suppose, and we were a little bigger and we had wings. But so much evil changes a body, even a celestial one. In another one or two hundred years, Sadie and Abram will be almost unrecognizable.”

“Is that what Damian meant when he said the change was taking its toll on them?”

“Yes,” Rafael said, and his voice was quiet. “I can imagine how they must have looked. It isn’t the first time someone has left and we’ve seen them years later. Almost immediately, their wings will begin the slow process of molting, even though we never normally lose feathers. Then it’s as if they are human and start aging. Skin goes slack, they’re covered in spots and warts. In the first few centuries the change is slight, but after about five hundred years you can really tell, and they start to shrink and diminish.”