The Light and Fallen (21 page)

Lucian sighed. "I really don't know. I
crossed to find a key, but I couldn't find it. I thought it was
because I was too distracted by you. After Homecoming, after I
left, I devoted myself to searching." He stroked her hair gently,
and she shivered as his touch radiated down her spine. "That's why
I wouldn't talk to you. I was trying to forget you and focus on my
mission. I thought it was the only way."

He fell silent, and Samara turned her head to
look at him. His eyes were closed, his lips pressed together
tightly as if he were in pain. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. His
voice was a weight, heavy and sad. "I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" she
asked. Hot tears prickled behind her eyelids and she blinked hard
to push them back. "Maybe I could've helped you."

"I didn't know what to do. You're so
different from everyone else, so different than I expected humans
to be." He lifted her arm and pressed his lips to the inside of her
wrist. "You make me feel so many things I don't understand."

"But you changed your mind," Samara
whispered. "You came back."

He nodded. "Despite all my efforts, you were
unforgettable." He gave her a crooked smile that made her heart
trip erratically. "Duncan and Sofia kept telling me I should follow
my heart. It just took a while for me to believe them."

"What happens if you never find the key?"

"I don't know," Lucian said. "The Timeline
was disappearing when I left. I don't know how being here on Earth
has changed things, if it's had any effect at all."

"You can't go back?" she asked.

"I could, but it's not easy. I'd have to
leave this body behind. It takes time to start over, so we try to
stay in one body as long as possible, at least until our
assignments are complete."

Samara traced her fingertip gently over the
cuts on the back of his hand. "So if you leave, I'll never see you
again?"

"If I leave," Lucian promised, "I'll come
back and find you, no matter how long it takes." He reached out and
pulled Samara against him, hugging her to his chest. A drop of
moisture fell onto his arm and he raised her chin. "Are you
crying?"

She shook her head, then gave an enormous
sniffle. "I guess I am," she said. She laughed nervously as his
strong hands caressed her cheeks and brushed her tears away.

"Why?"

"It sounds like you don't have a choice.
You'll do your mission, and find your key thing, and then you'll go
back to where you belong." Her chest tightened painfully and she
choked over her words. "If you succeed, you'll be lost to me."

"There's always a choice," Lucian reassured
her. "Always." He kissed her forehead softly. "I love you," he
said. He lips trailed down her face, brushing slowly over her nose,
across her eyelids. "I would stay with you forever, until the end
of Time."

Samara raised her face to his. "This sounds
crazy," she said.

Lucian nuzzled her ear. "Do I seem crazy?" He
could feel the warmth of her skin against his cheek, and he heard
her sigh as he smoothed her hair back and continued his trail of
kisses down her neck and across her collarbone.

"A little," she murmured, "but I believe
you." A sudden feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed her. Her eyelids
felt heavy, but she wanted to stay awake, to stay in this moment,
forever.

"You should rest," Lucian said softly.

A clap of thunder shook the house and she
shook her head. "I can't sleep."

"Yes you can." He stroked her hair tenderly
and shivers shot down into the pit of her stomach. "You'll go to
sleep as soon as you close your eyes."

She snuggled into his chest, listening to the
deep, steady rhythm of his heartbeat. "Will you stay with me," she
mumbled, "until I fall asleep?"

Lucian gently lowered her shoulders back onto
her pillow. "It would be my pleasure."

He lay down beside her and Samara rested her
head on his arm. She was tired. The exhaustion was creeping up on
her, thick behind her eyelids. "I think I've loved you since you
first walked into the office at school," she murmured.

A small noise escaped the back of Lucian's
throat and he squeezed her shoulders hard. "I know," he said. He
rolled her toward him until her face was buried in his chest and
she could no longer see his face. "Close your eyes."

The rain continued to fling against the
window and occasional flashes of lightning lit up the room, but
Samara felt completely safe, protected. She struggled to stay
awake, but Lucian began humming softly into her ear. She recognized
the melody from the night of Homecoming, when they were dancing
slow in the darkness. His voice filled her head as she drifted off,
carrying her away into the sweetest of dreams.

Jack sped up the circular driveway, narrowly
dodging other vehicles, and squealed to a stop. The party was still
in full swing; laughter drifted through the front door, and he
could see a group of girls gathered around the Christmas tree.

He burst through the front door and shoved
his way to the radio. He snapped the volume off, silencing the
Christmas music that had been blaring throughout the house, and
glared at the people standing closest to him. "Get out!"

Silence fell over the room as everyone turned in his
direction. "The party's over," he shouted. "Go!" He could hear
whispers spread across the room as he shoved his way through the
crowd to the kitchen. "You too!" he shouted to a couple making out
behind the pantry door. He swept his hand across the counter,
sending empty bottles skidding across the granite and crashing to
the floor.

He pulled a bottle of bourbon from beneath
the counter and gulped it down without pouring it into a glass. He
relished the heavy warmth that spread through his body as the
liquid burned down his throat, and let the bottle fall to the
floor. He rested his hands against the edge of the counter and let
his head hang down loosely, ignoring the sounds of footsteps and
hushed voices as a people scurried through the kitchen behind
him.

He could sporadically hear the spatter of
rain and the sound of cars pulling out of the driveway as the front
door opened and closed over and over again. Desiree stood at the
door saying goodbye to their departing guests. Her voice repeated
"Merry Christmas" over and over, and he ground his teeth together.
She had been right. Samara was just another stupid, ordinary, human
girl. The only thing special about her was the fact that somehow,
however improbable, she had made the Dominion fall in love with
her.

He spun around defiantly as Desiree walked
into the kitchen. "Say it," he growled.

She rested her arms against the back of a
barstool, watching him from across the room. "Say what?"
"You were right." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand,
smearing blood up his forearm. "Everyone left?"

Desiree nodded as she slowly crossed the
kitchen. She stopped in front of Jack and studied the blood and
scratches covering his face. "It doesn't matter that I was
right."

She rested her palm against his cheek, then
ran her fingers across his eye socket and the bridge of his nose.
"Some of these cuts are pretty deep, but at least nothing seems to
be broken." She disappeared from the room and returned a few
seconds later with a small leather case and pointed to one of the
barstools. "Sit down," she said.

"No."

"Don't be stupid." Desiree snapped open the
case and pulled out a small tube of adhesive. "It's your choice,
this or stitches."

Jack reluctantly crossed the room and sank
down on the barstool. He closed his eyes as she dabbed at his
wounds with a damp rag. "This one on your forehead is the worst,"
she murmured. "I have to pull the edges together."

A breath hissed out between his teeth as she
pushed her fingers into his skin. "There," she said finally.
"You're not too damaged." She ran her finger across his forehead
and down his left arm. "Although you are going to have a
spectacular black eye."

She slid onto the stool beside him and looked
at him sympathetically. "Was she worth all the effort?"

Jack's throat tightened. He burned at the
memory of his humiliation. "No."

Desiree rested her hand on his. "Then maybe
it's time to end this."

"She might still have some usefulness to us,"
Jack said. "The Dominion is more attached to her than I
thought."

"She's only useful if you can control her,"
Desiree said. She raised her eyebrows as Jack glared at her. "I'm
just telling the truth. It's obvious that her heart is already
given."

She leaned closer to him, her dark eyes
burning. "She's so very far beneath you. Don't let her make you
forget why you're here. You're fighting for a home, for all of us."
She kept her eyes open as she pressed her lips against his. "For
me," she whispered.

Jack breathed in the scent of her skin. Her
voice flowed around him like velvet, like the seduction of a siren.
"We both know how powerful love can be," she whispered, "especially
when its object is lost. Kill her now. Then at least her death will
have some meaning, and your mission will be complete."

Samara opened her eyes as the first hint of
light crept through the window. A few stars still lingered in the
sky, but the morning sun was quickly chasing them away. She lay
still and tried to remember everything that had happened the night
before. Her thoughts were fragmented. She remembered the darkness
and the rain, and then Lucian, coming to her rescue.

Could it really be true? Could he be an
angel?
She remembered the heat of his body as he carried her to
safety, and the spark that had run up his palm, making him glow
faintly as he attacked Jack. It seemed impossible, yet explained so
much.

She was just realizing that she was lying on
top of the covers, still wearing her sweatshirt and jeans, when she
felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you awake?"

She flipped over and saw Lucian's blue eyes
sparkling as he smiled down at her. "You stayed!" she cried.

He nodded, laughing at her eagerness, and she
threw herself against his chest. "I can't believe you're here!" she
whispered. A ridiculous grin split her face and she ducked her
head, embarrassed. She was so full of happiness her whole body felt
like it was overflowing.

Suddenly she jerked upright on the bed. "What
time is it?" she gasped. She peeked over Lucian's shoulder at the
clock on her nightstand and saw that it was a few minutes after
six. "You have to go!"

"So eager to get rid of me?" Lucian
teased.

"Never!" She pressed a swift kiss on his
lips. "But if my mom wakes up and finds you here-" Samara shook her
head. "You just have to go before she wakes up."

She started to climb off the bed, then
changed her mind and threw her arms around Lucian. She hugged him
swiftly before she hopped to the floor. "Stay right here," she
said.

She tiptoed down the hall and retrieved his
clothes from the dryer. When she got back to her room, he was
standing beside her bed. The faint light shining in through the
window outlined his shoulders and made him look radiant, even more
breathtaking than usual. He was just too beautiful to be hers. "I
have to be honest," she teased as she handed him his clothes. "You
may not realize it, since you haven't been on the Earth very long,
but I'm way out of your league."

Lucian laughed and kissed her softly. "I
know," he said. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she
stretched up to meet him. His teeth pulled gently at her lower lip
and she melted into his kiss feeling dizzy and intoxicated. "I have
to go," he groaned. He tore himself away from her embrace and
quietly opened the bedroom door. "Can I return these clothes
later?"

Samara nodded, giddy with joy. "Shhh!" she
giggled. She led him to the front door and opened it slowly, trying
to be as silent as possible, and they stepped out onto the porch.
The storm was gone. The sky was a hard, pale blue, and the frost
tipping the grass glittered in the early morning sunlight. "When
are you coming back?" she asked.

Lucian brushed a few loose strands of hair
behind her ear. "As soon as I can, but I need to talk to Duncan and
Sofia."

"Your guardians," Samara mused. "Angels
too?"

Lucian nodded.

"And Desiree! Jack said she was his
guardian."

"We each have them." He ran his fingers
through her hair and pulled her close, silencing her questions. "I
love you," he said. "Go inside where it's warm, and I'll be back
before you have a chance to miss me."

"I miss you already," Samara groaned as he
walked down the steps to his truck.

He turned around and blew her a kiss. "I'll
be back soon."

She stood on the porch and watched him drive
away before she tiptoed back into the house and locked the door.
She thought about going back to bed, but she was too ecstatic to
sleep. Instead she went to the bathroom and washed her face,
carefully smoothing cover up over the bruises on her jaw. Then she
went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She paced the
floor as she waited for it to brew. She was trying to be calm, but
she felt like dancing through the house screaming, "He loves me, he
loves me!"

It was still before seven, probably at least
another hour before her mother woke up. I'll go for a walk, she
decided. She felt like she could run a race or climb a mountain,
anything but stay in the house. She grabbed a piece of paper and
scribbled a quick note to her mom, then pulled on her boots and
jacket and headed out the front door. The cold air swept around her
immediately. The air smelled clean and crisp, and she inhaled
deeply. The sun was over the horizon now, and it reflected off of
every frozen surface. There was no one else in sight; at this early
hour the streets were deserted. She felt like she was the only
person in the world.