Title Page

Ember

Carol Oates

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Omnific Publishing

Dallas

Copyright Information

Ember, Copyright © 2011 by Carol Oates

All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,

no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,

without prior written permission of the publisher.

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Omnific Publishing

P.O. Box 793871, Dallas, TX 75379

www.omnificpublishing.com

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First Omnific eBook edition, July 2011

First Omnific trade paperback edition, July 2011

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The characters and events in this book are fictitious.

Any similarity to real persons, living or dead,

is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

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Oates, Carol

Ember / Oates, Carol – 1st ed.

ISBN 978-1-936305-84-1

1. Angel — Fiction. 2. Nephilim — Fiction. 3. Romance — Fiction. 4. College —Fiction. I. Title

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Cover Design by Stephanie Swartz

Interior Book Design by Coreen Montagna

Dedication

For my dad, Thomas Oates

Prologue

Candra thought it was a coincidence, at first, that they were going the same way.

She noticed the woman right away, because she looked like a supermodel: statuesque and beautiful, moving so gracefully she could have been floating on a cushion of air. The woman’s hair was flame red—not carrot red or strawberry blond—flame red, scarlet with a touch of gold and dancing around her face as if it were alive. It was early evening, and the September weather hadn’t turned the air cool, yet the woman was clad completely in black leather, looking like she was on her way to a nightclub. It occurred to Candra that she could have been; they were in Acheron, after all, and the city never sleeps.

Candra turned another corner. The woman was still behind her, and she knew then it was no coincidence. The fact that the woman didn’t outwardly seem to care if Candra knew worried her even more.

Candra thought she had lost her when she ducked into a multi-story parking garage and made her way to one of the upper floors to double check. There was a spot where a car had hit the wall and the concrete had caved and been replaced by steel bars. Not a good advertisement for the owner’s concern about structural integrity, she thought to herself. There was no sign of the woman on the bustling street below. All Candra could see were people going about their business amid the gleaming mirrored skyscrapers and the older gothic buildings that formed the city.

Finally, she began to relax. Being followed was strange, but then, strange things happened to people every day, and Candra couldn’t think of any reason why she would be worth following. She took a deep breath of the stale air, laced thickly with the scent of car fumes and gas, before she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirrored window directly opposite her. With her heart pounding in her chest, she took another long, deep breath and turned slowly, bringing her face to face with Flame-hair.

Chapter One

“She’s going into shock.”

“I am not,” Candra insisted, swatting her stepmother’s hand away yet again. “Can’t you do something with her? Throw her out, sedate her or something?” she asked the nurse who was checking a drip leaking clear fluid into her arm.

The nurse smiled indulgently, presuming wrongly that Candra was joking, and then went to the end of the bed to mark something on a chart.

“At least some gas and air,” Candra pleaded.

The nurse pursed her lips and sighed. “Ms. Ember, are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable waiting in the visitors’ room?”

“I’m fine right here, thanks,” Brie answered, barely able to contain the break in her voice.

Candra pushed her head back against the pillow and rolled her eyes. When Brie took her hand again, Candra didn’t try to pull away. The words lost cause floated through her mind.

“Ear plugs?” she muttered in desperation, and heard the nurse muffle a giggle as she left.

“Candra Ember, how can you be so hurtful after what I’ve been through?”

Candra glared at her stepmother incredulously. Brie’s big brown eyes looked huge and anxious, traced with jagged crisscross lines of red.

“I’m the one lying here with tubes and monitors everywhere,” Candra pointed out. “I’m the one with my butt on display every time they move me for another one of the tests you keep insisting on.”

“I know, sweetheart, but you fell five stories.”

“I didn’t fall—” Candra started, and then thought better of it. She knew Brie wasn’t interested in the woman at the parking garage—she had already said as much. “When can I go home?”

Brie had started stroking her arm again. “Soon, sweetheart, soon.”

Candra glanced around the double hospital room, which Brie had managed to get her all to herself, and across the empty bed, over to the window. It was a bright, clear day outside, and Candra thought about sitting and reading in any number of the parks dotted around the city, or sitting on the small balcony outside her bedroom with her iPhone, listening to music and studying. It was Brie who had insisted she stay on in Acheron another year to study at Saint Francis College after graduation. Candra wanted to go away to school, but since even staying a year meant she would be barely nineteen going to university, she agreed. Next year, she promised herself, leaning back and closing her eyes, resigning herself to the comforting strokes on her skin.

Within seconds, streaks of gold glinted across the back of her eyelids. She hadn’t been able to erase the image of him from her mind since she had seen him standing across the street while the paramedics were getting ready to cart her off to hospital. It had taken her all of the previous night and most of the morning, but finally she could place him—she knew where she had seen him before. Candra blinked and opened her eyes to see Brie looking down intently to where her fingers caressed Candra’s skin.

When Candra closed her eyes again the image of him was still there, this time arguing with a girl who was maybe a year or two older than her.

To Candra, they looked out of place in the small crowd that had gathered to see what the fuss was about, and too pretty to be anything other than a dream. The girl tugged nervously on his arm, trying to move him away with her, but the boy was steadfast, and even as his lips moved in conversation with the girl, he never once took his eyes off Candra.

She felt her eyes roll around a little in her head; there was something sharp in her arm. The paramedics had given her something to help her relax despite her protests that she was fine and just needed to go home. Candra wondered if maybe they gave her something because of her protests. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore, not when he was staring at her in that way, as if she was the sun and it was the last day he would ever watch a sunrise.

Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed, and the paramedic strapped her down gently. She knew she must have been out of it, high. She couldn’t come up with any other explanation for what she saw through the open door of the ambulance.

A giant hand reached out from behind the boy and brushed the girl away from him. She was hopping up and down in obvious frustration and being held away by the cream-colored hand. Candra gulped, her mouth was arid. Yeah, I am high, all right, she thought to herself and probably about to pass out; her eyelids were so heavy it was a battle to keep them open.

Then Candra saw another hand reach out behind the boy at his other shoulder. She was sure she couldn’t believe her own eyes; the hands were far too big and the fingers too long, twice as long as he was tall, and they stretched out from his back.

“Not possible,” she whispered to herself over and over. “Not possible, not possible.” The boy had wings.

Before the door closed, she watched his wings pulling in; they creased in on themselves behind his back, disappeared in a cloud of golden mist, and suddenly he was just a boy again. The girl by his side, who had been fluttering her own tawny wings and held away from him by his, tugged on his arm again. This time he conceded with a bow to the girl, a simple lowering of his head to give her permission to lead him away.

Candra turned her attention to the roof of the ambulance, still murmuring to herself about the impossibility of what she had just witnessed. The last thing she heard before she passed out was the paramedics talking to each other.

“Do you think she’s really one of them? She doesn’t look much like a Neph.”

“I don’t know, she looks pretty normal to me, but Sebastian sure seems to think so.”

Candra’s eyes flashed open. The needle in her arm stung when her arm jerked and somewhere nearby an alarm was beeping.

“It’s okay, honey, and calm down—it was just a dream,” Brie said, pressing down lightly on her arms. Candra presumed it was to stop her from tugging out her line, since that was what she seemed to be doing.

After a few deep breaths, she realized it wasn’t an alarm sounding at all, it was the heart monitor attached to her finger with a clip, and it was beating erratically, but slowing as she calmed. Brie wiped her fingers gently across Candra’s brow, and without thinking Candra brushed her hand away.

“I’m fine, stop it.” There was no conviction in her tone.

One of the doctors circling for the last twenty-four hours came into the room holding a manila folder in one hand and clicking a pen in the other. He nodded an acknowledgment to Brie, who moved aside to let him check the monitor.

“It was just a dream,” Candra preempted before he could comment.

“To be expected, you’ve had a shock.” He smiled kindly. “I think we can take this off now.”

To her relief, he switched off the monitor, removed the clip attached to her finger, and gently unhooked the oxygen tube from around her ears. The needle pinched under her skin for an instant when he pulled it out, then it was over. She was convinced she didn’t need any of that stuff in the first place anyway, but conceded she probably was lucky to be alive considering she fell head first from the fifth floor of a parking garage and didn’t have so much as a scratch on her. No amount of tests could explain it or the suspicion Candra was harboring that Brie knew more than she was letting on.

“How is she?” Brie asked anxiously.

“Fine, just fine,” he replied calmly; everything about him was calming. This doctor was around more often than any of the others and carried an air of authority that somehow didn’t match his boyish face and too long blond hair curling in fine tendrils around the front of his ears.

Candra blinked when he directed his smile to her again. She was staring. Her cheeks flushed, and she was relieved when he turned his attention away from her and toward Brie.

“We’ve run every test we have, and she’s fine, better than fine, in fact. She’s very healthy.” He looked back to Candra. “You’re the luckiest person I’ve met in almost forever.”

To her, it seemed an odd comment coming from someone who didn’t look much past twenty-five.

“I think we can let you go now. I’ll send a nurse in shortly,” he said.

“At last.”

The doctor grinned again, and in that moment, Candra was glad to be free of the monitor. Her heart thudded one hard beat when she could have sworn she saw a gold glint in his eyes. He nodded to Brie again, but there was something bizarrely formal about the gesture; it was more of a bow than a nod. Just like the boy with the—

Candra pushed the thought from her mind as ridiculous; people didn’t just go around bowing to other people…people didn’t have wings.

When he turned back to her, the gold was gone; he looked like any of the other tired and overworked medical personnel she had seen since she was admitted.

When he left, she barely had time to flex her recently freed fingers before Brie was back by her side clutching her hand again. Candra noted that some of the anxiety that had been etched on Brie’s face was gone at last, and a bit of color was returning to her cheeks. She looked better for it—her coal black hair was too dark to carry off the pale and interesting look. With her full pink pout and high cheekbones, she was more suited to look like a fairy-tale princess.

“See, I told you I was fine,” she assured Brie, trying to keep the “I told you so” out of her voice. “Why don’t you go and take a break now? You must be exhausted.”

“I’ll wait until you’re safe at home to rest.”

“At least go and get some coffee or something. I could use some myself.”

Brie paused to consider. Sometimes Candra was convinced she could actually see on her face the decisions forming in Brie’s mind.

“All right then, I won’t be long,” Brie said, before leaning in to kiss Candra’s forehead quickly, something she hadn’t done in a long time.

After Candra’s father, Payne, died in a traffic accident, she had been left in the care of his young bride, even though Brie wasn’t much more than a child herself at the time. Candra thought they did okay together. She had a good life, and she didn’t want for anything. They had a nice home and enough money. Brie worked hard as an art dealer, and Candra did well in school. Candra knew Brie didn’t deserve the attitude she had been giving her over the last few hours. She knew it was only because Brie loved her that she hovered. It had always been like that whenever Candra was hurt, almost like Brie was counting the seconds until she healed.

Alone at last, Candra laid her head back against the pillows propping her up and closed her eyes. Except it felt to her more like she blinked or maybe fell asleep, because there couldn’t have been more than seconds between the swish of the curtain as Brie closed it around her and the screech of the metal rail when it was dragged back again. Candra opened her eyes expecting Brie with the promised coffee, but it was him.

It was the guy from the parking garage, the one dressed all in black who appeared in her dream with gold-tipped, white wings opened out wide behind him. It was the same guy who had been standing under street lights, sitting on park benches, and waiting outside school every day. The strangest feeling flooded Candra’s body, because as sure as she was it was him all those times, it was as if she could never truly remember before now. Her mind overflowed with two memories: in the first, he was there, and in the second, he wasn’t.

“What do you want?” she demanded, eyeing the door over his shoulder and ready to bolt from the room.

He smiled smugly, his fingers still lightly holding the blue curtain. His expression was a world away from the pained one she remembered the last time he looked at her.

“Hmm, I expected a warmer greeting,” he said, pulling the curtain back the remainder of the way. He walked purposefully to the window sill and sat down sideways, raising one booted foot to rest his elbow casually on his knee.

Candra watched him gazing out across the city in a protracted silence, not sure what reaction she should be having to this almost-stranger. Looking away wasn’t an option. He was beautiful in a masculine way. His features were angular yet still fine, and he had the long, lean body of an athlete, broad shoulders and back that tapered to narrow hips. The fabric of his long-sleeved T-shirt hugged the shape of his sculpted upper arms. His ruffled hair was the color of sand on a Caribbean beach, reflecting golden strands where the sun streamed in through the window.

Finally, he turned and cocked an eyebrow over one of his brown eyes, as if challenging her to say something.

“Why have you been following me?”

“You think I’ve been following you?” His voice was sure and rang of surprise, but hardly answered the question.

Candra scowled. The longer she studied him the more she was sure she wasn’t imagining that she had seen him on several occasions previously. She could feel her heart beating in her stomach where frustration was building. Her memories of him were clearing, becoming more substantial, but it was still like trying to grope through a fog. “I’ve seen you, at my home, at school. I know you’ve been following me. Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.” Again his answer was hard to doubt…but not impossible.

He picked a piece of dust she couldn’t see from his black jeans and turned with a resigned groan, placing both of his feet on the floor. “So you remember me?”

Candra jumped. She wasn’t normally a nervous person, but something about the way his eyes scrutinized her was unnerving. It was almost like he wasn’t looking at her at all, more like he was looking into her. She took a deep breath, determined not to show her discomfort. Don’t be afraid, a voice she recognized whispered in her head. “Of course I remember you. I’ve just said so, haven’t I?”

He laughed so loud that she flinched again. “You did, didn’t you? Wonderful.”

Candra didn’t understand his private joke and was about to say so when he abruptly stopped. His expression became stony, and his eyes tightened—in fact, his whole body tightened. He suddenly looked inches taller. She followed his line of sight to see what he was seeing. Brie was standing at the door with a coffee cup in each hand. Her expression mirrored his exactly. The girl Candra had seen by the boy’s side in her dream appeared around the doorway.

“Look who I found.” She beamed, slipping her arm through Brie’s.

The girl was shorter than Brie by about two inches, Candra guessed. Her thick, golden blond hair hung over her shoulders with streaks of light pink slicing through it. It swished like a curtain across her pretty face when she looked up to Brie and back to the boy.

“Say something, someone,” she urged. Her eyebrows came together in a grimace.

“You,” Brie murmured at the boy in accusation.

He stood defiant, his brown eyes narrowed to slits. “It’s good to see you, Ambriel.”

Ambriel? Candra couldn’t recall Brie ever being called by that name.

The girl released Brie as she stepped into the room and closed the door gently while Brie placed the cups on the tray at the end of the bed. One of the cups teetered on edge for a brief moment before she managed to settle it with her shaking hand, all the while never taking her wide eyes from the boy. He remained frozen.

A breathing work of art: beautiful. Candra gulped, swallowing that thought, and blushed. The heat rose high in her cheeks, and she was grateful no one was paying any attention to her.

Brie took a few tentative steps closer to him, leaving them eye to eye—the same eyes.

Crazy, ridiculous, completely impossible, Candra reasoned. Brie had no other family, they only had each other. It was like some creepy movie stand-off between the bad guy and the hero, waiting to see who would draw their weapon first, and it sent the strangest vibration through her because the bad guy had been following her for weeks, or maybe even months.

“You healed her,” Brie said.

“Yes,” he replied, even though it wasn’t a question.

“You could have killed her, you kno,” Brie suddenly raged, making Candra jump for the third time in the last few minutes. “You know a curleax won’t work on—”

He cut her off with a wave of his hand, dismissing the statement. “If I didn’t try, she would have died anyway.”

Candra was about to interject and demand to know what they were they talking about. The other girl moved quietly to the bed beside her and leaned her head close.

“I actually expected this to go better. I don’t know why, considering how stubborn they both are.”

Candra’s eyes darted to her while at the same time her head leaned away, and the girl smiled at her like she was some kind of conspirator in all this.

“Who exactly are you?” Candra deadpanned with narrowed eyes, feeling her frustration about to bubble over.

The girl responded by twitching her eyebrows, which hardly answered the question. They weren’t exactly forthcoming, these strangers. The girl’s smile widened, making Candra want to look away and not look away at the same time. Just like with the boy.

“How long?” Brie asked with a shaking voice.

“Six months, give or take.”

Candra was sure she detected a break in the boy’s voice, but she couldn’t quite manage to tear her eyes away from the girl to see his expression.

“And you never came to me? You never said anything?”

“The way you did?” he retorted coldly. “It was what you wanted. Free will. My objections were secondary.”

Finally, the girl pulled her gaze away from Candra, and just like that, she was able to look away, trying to ignore that her heart was beating way too fast. Candra couldn’t follow the conversation, but she was certain Brie knew the boy. She wondered if he was an old boyfriend maybe, but quickly discounted it because he had to be at least ten years younger than Brie, if not more. Brie had been with Candra’s father twelve years ago, and she hadn’t had any boyfriends since then, at least to Candra’s knowledge. The girl was leaning on the tray at the end of the bed now, watching them with her face cupped in her dainty hands. She looked like she was regretting not bringing popcorn for the show.

“I did it for Payne…and his wife,” Brie offered, as some kind of explanation.

Candra raged silently in her head at Brie for explaining anything to this guy.

“And their child,” he added, one eyebrow rose sharply, and Brie flinched, as if she had been struck. “They broke the law!”

Candra bristled. No way was she going to allow anyone to accuse her father and mother of breaking the law—especially some random guy who looked like he’d just gotten out of reform school, all shaggy blond hair and tight-jawed. She didn’t even realize she was pushing herself off the bed until she felt the girl’s hand holding her back down gently.

“Wait,” the girl murmured.

“They were in love,” Brie said. Her fists were clenched by her side, making Candra wince as she imagined Brie’s nails digging into the soft flesh of her palms. “So you knew when you used the stone?”

“It made sense. Why else would you fall? I knew it had to have something to do with Payne.”

“Did you do this to her?”

Candra felt the intense need to remind them that she was still there, but the girl’s hand was still on her shoulder, and despite the bad feeling she got from the boy, there was nothing bad from the girl. Candra didn’t feel any need to be wary of her, at all.

“No, of course not. How could you even think such a thing? I would never…you know that.” He was offended, obviously; his tough façade was beginning to falter.

Brie looked down. “Draven.” She shivered when she said the word.

“I’m not the only one who found you.”

Brie’s eyes lifted to him again; they were softer, worried. Candra couldn’t take a breath as Brie took the final step that closed the gap between them and fell into his embrace, burying her head in his chest. He, in turn, wrapped his arms around her and stroked the length of her hair with his hand.

“Oh, Sebastian, I’ve missed you so much,” Brie cried.

“Shush,” he hushed her. “I will never allow anything to hurt you, little sister.”

“Little sister?” Candra mumbled in surprise, and swiveled her head to the girl who was now beaming an almost blinding smile in their direction. So bright, Candra could have sworn she saw a golden mist roll and flutter over her back and disappear.

“Oh, goody,” the girl gushed. “Ambriel is coming home. Gabe will be pleased.”

Chapter Two

“Is he still there?”

“Yeah.”

Candra bit the inside of her lip, fighting the urge to turn around. Her friend, Ivy, peeked over her shoulder to where Sebastian was trailing them. “He is so hot,” she observed, far too enthusiastically for Candra’s liking.

Her eyes widened, horrified. “Ivy!”

Ivy simply adjusted her book bag on her shoulder and looked again. “What? He’s not my uncle, and even if he was—”

Candra cut her off with a glare, thinking it was bad enough he was following them for the twenty minute walk to the college they attended, without her best friend lusting after him. She snuck a really quick glance.

Sebastian, who was walking fifteen yards behind, keeping pace with them, winked, and Candra felt her stomach twist into a tight ball, convinced he intended to give her an ulcer. She glowered at him in frustration and turned away when his lips began to widen into a grin.

He was dressed differently today, not so much a juvenile delinquent, wearing a plain white T-shirt and faded jeans, which were frayed at the bottom where they met his sneakers, and appearing just like any young guy—appearing being the operative word.

Candra wasn’t exactly sure what Sebastian was, but she knew he wasn’t a normal guy. He was Brie’s brother, and that much was firmly established but it also meant whatever Sebastian was, Brie was too, and Candra wasn’t ready to face that yet.

“Walk faster. We’re almost there,” she insisted. She could see the number of students in the blue uniform of Saint Francis College increasing in front of them.

Ivy increased her speed a little, but it couldn’t exactly be considered rushing. She didn’t seem in any hurry to get away from Sebastian.

“So you said it was some kind of family argument?”

Candra nodded. The steps of the college entrance weren’t far.

“I thought Brie had no family.” Ivy was pulling her black hair into a knot—black, this week anyway. Ivy hadn’t found a hair color she could stick to for more than a month in the last year.

“I didn’t know she did. Apparently my dad was the problem; they didn’t approve of him, so she cut herself off.”

For Candra, that was enough reason not to trust Sebastian or Lofi, the girl in the hospital. But it was hard to not trust the girl with the open expression and playful nature.

For the last few days, it had been Lofi that kept Candra company while Brie’d been working away from home. Candra hadn’t been allowed back to college. “You need to rest,” she’d been told. “A lucky escape,” she’d been told. She didn’t agree and still didn’t believe what happened was an accident. Her memory was still sketchy, but she definitely remembered the woman.

They hadn’t exactly come face to face in the parking garage since Candra’s eyes were level with the woman’s more-on-display-than-necessary breasts. Candra never considered herself short—five four was average—but the woman was statuesque, and grinning at her with bright red lips.

“I’m sorry,” Candra forced out, feeling a chill on the back of her neck.

There wasn’t anyone else around. Candra wondered what were the chances in a city the size of Acheron that they would end up in the same level of the same parking garage? When she attempted to step past, Flame-hair moved to block her way.

“Are you ill, child? You look pale.”

The woman didn’t look much past twenty.

“I’m…I’m…I just…I need to go.” Candra mentally kicked herself for stuttering. She attempted to step past again, and again found Flame-hair in her direct route.

Her stomach lurched. There was something not right about the way the woman’s hair swished when she moved—it was too slow. Her long locks of hair were like flames caught up in some hi-tech movie effect, moving in a time completely at odds to everything around them. For a brief second, Candra saw something gold flicker in her brown eyes, almost like a cat’s.

“I’m sorry…I seem to have frightened you. I simply came to get my car and saw you standing here looking out. You look rather pale.” She gestured to a Porsche nearby that Candra was sure wasn’t there a few minutes ago. Its red, shiny paintwork suited the woman perfectly: the kind of car that purred instead of revved, almost an extension of the woman herself.

“Can I offer you a ride somewhere?” Flame-hair continued with a voice so cool it seemed to seep through Candra’s skin and into her bones, turning them to jelly.

“No, thank you, I’m good. I’d better be going.”

“Very wise. Never accept a ride from a stranger.” Flame-hair scrutinized Candra’s face curiously, a languid smile on her lips. “I’m Ananchel. See, there now, we’re not strangers anymore.”

Candra’s instinct was to offer a smile in return to show she wasn’t intimidated. The muscles in her face seemed to be having different ideas, refusing to co-operate in even the most basic of friendly gestures. It was as if her whole body had gone soft, and it took every ounce of strength she possessed just to say, “Thank you. I’m fine.”

Flame-hair shrugged. “Okay, another time, then.” With one last appraising glance, she turned to walk away. “I’m sure we’ll meet again, Candra.”

Candra turned from her and gasped out the breath she had been holding. The sound of Ananchel’s heels tapping rhythmically on concrete with each step halted abruptly.

“Hey, how did you know my—” Candra started to turn and demand an answer.

Her words broke off before she could finish, and the ground under her feet felt like it turned liquid, making her head swim. Tingles flooded her body, reaching into every nerve-ending, making her want to cry out, but the only sound that escaped was a low moan. Deep inside, a fire began to smolder as if a million gentle fingers were tracing lines under her skin, gently massaging up her spine and concentrating every sense on the growing tightening in the pit of her stomach.

All the time, Ananchel stood by casually watching. Candra’s eyes rolled a little, and her body swayed. She was terrified and yet couldn’t bring herself to want the feeling to end. Her heart pounded through every vein, and the muscles in her stomach tightened further.

The tightness spread through every part of her body as her breathing escalated, making her toes curl inside her shoes. Her head fell backward a little. She was totally unable to fight against the sensations rocketing through her body, and everything was growing darker by the second until she eventually shut her eyes against it. Suddenly the smoldering burst into a fire that threatened to consume her whole, and she cried out before her knees went weak, the fire now seeping outward from the center of her body in slow pulsing waves. Candra stumbled awkwardly, falling forward and tumbling into blackness while Ananchel turned to walk away, her stilettos clicking on the concrete floor.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Huh? Yeah,” Candra mumbled, feeling heat rise in her cheeks at the memory.

Ivy scowled watching her closely. “Oh yeah? Then what was I saying?”

“Something about your latest hot guy,” Candra offered with an embarrassed grimace.

Ivy mashed her lips together in a flat line, letting Candra know she had guessed wrong. “Close, but no cigar. It was something about your hot guy.”

“My…” Candra’s eyes automatically found Sebastian, who had come to a stop and was leaning casually against a lamppost across the street, his ankles crossed and a smug expression firmly in place.

“He is not mine,” Candra finished sternly.

“Good. You won’t mind if I take a shot then.”

“What?” Candra gasped, appalled.

Ivy’s lips slowly spread into a mischievous grin, and then she laughed. “I knew it.”

Candra was about to protest, vigorously, that she didn’t want Ivy near Sebastian because she didn’t trust him, when a familiar figure stopped them in their tracks.

Ananchel was clad in full leather again, looking every bit as strikingly beautiful as Candra remembered. Blood rushed to her cheeks, and ice spread swiftly up her spine, making her suck in a fast breath. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when Ananchel grinned at her as if they were old friends.

“You,” Candra growled in accusation and shoved a reluctant Ivy behind her.

“Now, now. I hope you are not still upset about our last meeting.”

“Candra, what the hell?” Ivy started fighting to move, but Candra’s arm was holding her fast, using her own body as a shield to protect Ivy from whatever messed-up power Ananchel seemed to process.

Flame-hair was dangerous; Candra knew it. She glanced over to where Sebastian was standing by the post, his expression a mixture of incredulity and rage.

Sebastian’s entire body seemed to vibrate. His foot moved forward as if he was ready to launch himself across the street. But he didn’t. He froze, and his taut lips mumbled something Candra couldn’t make out. The fingers of his left hand turned in before his knuckles hit the side of his leg hard. To Candra, it appeared he was putting a great deal of effort into not interfering in the scene before him. She couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want to help them.

“Sebastian?” Candra mouthed soundlessly. Her distrust of him disintegrated—not completely, but enough that trusting Sebastian was still better than making polite conversation with a woman she was sure had tried to dispatch her a few days earlier.

To Candra’s astonishment, Sebastian didn’t make a move, not so much as a twitch in their defense. She felt her face fall in disbelief and pushed back a step, forcing Ivy to stay behind her. Her estimation of Sebastian took a further nose dive in that moment. Over Ananchel’s shoulder, Candra could see Father Patrick at the door of the school, coming out to usher stray students inside.

“Come now, Candra, I thought you and I could be friends,” Ananchel purred.

Candra turned beseechingly to Sebastian, but he was gone.

“Who in hell are you?” Ivy demanded.

“In hell?” Ananchel echoed in a puzzled tone. “What a strange question, little one.”

Father Patrick finally turned his attention to them. Candra supposed he was still too far away to see her dismayed expression but near enough he would hear her scream. She opened her mouth, but much to her horror, nothing came out. Instead, a rush of pleasure washed over her, making her legs give way. Unable to support her own body, she dropped.

Or at least she would have if Ivy wasn’t quick enough to catch her.

“That is not a good idea,” Lofi warned, seemingly stepping out from nowhere to block Ananchel from them.

As fast as the wave of pleasure knocked Candra over, it receded, leaving her weakened and disorientated. Clutching her stomach, she leaned heavily against Ivy for support.

“Lofi!” Ananchel greeted her, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. It was mesmerizing, shimmering and moving like roaring flames around her face.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Lofi warned her. “She’s ours.”

Lofi’s back was to Candra, and the first thing Candra noticed about her was the pink tinge was gone from Lofi’s hair. Ananchel looked around her to Candra, who was trying to straighten herself.

“Oh, I think we both know that can’t be true. Still Sebastian’s little guard dog, I see.” Ananchel’s saccharine smile verged on innocuous, making her appear even more dangerous. A sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Candra stumbled back another step, taking a deep painful breath and keeping Ivy locked beside her. Her lungs felt as if somebody had tried to pull them out through her nose. Sebastian was nowhere in sight, most of the students had gone inside, and Father Patrick was beginning to stare.

“Please, Ananchel,” Lofi started condescendingly. “Don’t insult me. You know your parlor tricks don’t work on me.”

Ananchel sighed. “Oh, well, never mind.” Her eyes flickered to Candra again, black as coal now.

Candra couldn’t swear that it wasn’t just a trick of her imagination. She gulped.

“We shall have to finish our chat another time, Candra. I detest lapdogs snapping at my ankles.”

“Woof,” Lofi responded sarcastically.

Ivy chuckled, and for a fraction of a second, Ananchel’s cool exterior dropped—she was positively enraged.

“Later, pup,” she snapped.

“Hmm, if I’m a pup, I guess that would make you a bitch, wouldn’t it?” Lofi bit back with a smirk.

“I shall enjoy getting to know you,” Ananchel purred toward Candra and ran her tongue lazily across her top lip. “Make sure to send my love to Sebastian,” she added to Lofi before she sashayed away, her hips gracefully snaking side to side.

They watched her retreat and disappear around the corner. The sea of blue uniforms had shrunk to a slow trickle, and Father Patrick looked like he was debating making his way over. Lofi blew out a gust of air from her pursed lips before turning around.

“Are you both okay?”

Candra glanced over her shoulder to see Ivy nod, her mouth slack, clearly confounded about what had just transpired.

“Okay? Now you have to tell me what’s going on,” Candra demanded strongly.

Lofi’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

Candra’s stomach twisted into what was beginning to feel like yet another tight knot. “I’m serious. I want to…what are you wearing?”

Lofi spun as gracefully as a ballerina, modeling the Saint Francis uniform she was proudly sporting. “Do you like it? I wasn’t sure about the color on me, but I think it works.”

Father Patrick was almost within speaking distance.

“No, I don’t like it,” Candra replied curtly. “And what’s it doing on you?”

Candra was still body blocking Ivy, who stood on her toes to look over Candra’s shoulder. “I’m Ivy, by the way.”

Lofi smiled widely and curtsied, holding the edges of her skirt. “Lofi. It’s my first day.”

Candra suspected Lofi exaggerated the movement just because she knew it would rile her.

“I guess you like the uniform then,” Ivy commented with a teasing smirk.

“For what? School? You can’t be serious.” Candra was aghast, thinking this whole thing was slowing turning into a nightmare and she was being stalked from all angles.

“Are you planning to join us today, ladies?” Father Patrick asked sternly. As soon as Lofi turned her attention to him, his light blue eyes sparkled. Father Patrick’s eyes never sparkled. He was the hardest of all the priests and nuns teaching at Saint Francis. After working in foreign mission during his early life, he had no time for what he blatantly referred to as cosseted students attending private college. “Ah, you must be Lofial Duarte,” he stated rather than asked.

Lofi’s lips spread to a shy grin as she swayed side to side, still holding onto her skirt. Candra compared it to a six-year-old putting on a display of politeness for an elder, or a newly acquired stalker enjoying getting under her skin. “Yes, Father, I was on my way in when I met my friend, Candra.”

Candra shot daggers in her direction only to be nudged by Ivy, who had clearly already been won over.

“Lofial…an unusual name.”

“Yes, Father.”

He studied her appraisingly. “Let’s hope you live up to it.”

Lofial? Where have I heard that name before? Candra asked herself.

“Okay, ladies, don’t dawdle. And Candra, since you already know each other, maybe you could show Lofial around today.”

“What?” Candra muttered.

“We both will,” Ivy added, linking her arm through Candra’s and then Lofi’s.

“Yes, well…” Father Patrick didn’t need to finish saying what he was thinking about leaving Lofi in Ivy’s hands. Ivy and Candra both knew it had to do with her ungrounded reputation as a bad girl; Ivy was as innocent as new snow.

Her family didn’t have as much money as most of the kids attending Saint Francis, but they wanted the best for Ivy. Candra and Ivy had become friends during their first day of school. A couple of kids that thought of themselves as “mean girls” had stolen Ivy’s crayons, and she’d been crying. Candra had seen what happened and had stomped right over there, snatched the crayons, and told the girls that if they wanted Ivy, they’d have to go through her first. They hadn’t liked someone standing up to them, but she hadn’t been afraid. She’d given Ivy back her crayons and taken the seat beside her. They’d been best friends ever since then.

Ivy nudged Candra, bringing her back to the present, and they walked toward school with Father Patrick close behind.

Candra grunted under her breath toward Lofi, who was practically skipping toward the door. “This is stupid. What are you doing?” Her voice was a pitch higher than normal because of the situation. “You must be what twenty-two, twenty-three? You’re too old to be a student here.”

Lofi stopped skipping immediately, and her expression shifted toward wounded. “There are thirty-year-olds playing students in the movies these days, and you don’t think I pass for eighteen?”

Candra’s eyebrows came together in a scowl. The sadness on Lofi’s face seemed wrong somehow, as if it were unnatural to her, and Candra groaned, reluctantly giving in.

They passed through the door, back into a sea of blue, and made their way to the lockers, where Father Patrick left them, continuing down the hall. Lofi opened the locker next to Candra’s.

“I’m not even going to ask.” She rolled her eyes and thought about the mousey little thing that previously owned that locker.

Lofi beamed a smile. “That’s the attitude.”

Once they had gotten out their books—which little to Candra’s surprise, Lofi already seemed to have mysteriously available to her—Candra reached over and closed Lofi’s locker door. “Just one question: why are you really here?”

Lofi hesitated, biting the inside of her cheek. “It’s all girls here.”

Candra scrutinized her guarded expression, but she didn’t appear to be giving anything away. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

“Sebastian asked me to. He’s worried for you.”

Candra nodded slowly; there was no way she was going to believe that. “Right…so worried he ran when trouble showed up.”

The bell chimed, signaling the time they had to move toward their first lecture. Candra started to move toward the hall, but a hand with a cast iron grip locked around her upper arm, stopping her. Her head spun to see Lofi looking unusually serious and up close, no more than three inches from her face. Lofi’s eyes flashed with gold sparks when she blinked. She was beautiful and fierce, a real force to be reckoned with.

“Don’t be so harsh on him, Candra,” she began gravely. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You know what Ananchel is capable of, except she didn’t hold back with Sebastian the way she did with you. It really messed with his head.”

Candra gulped, and her cheeks flamed a burning red. Her throat constricted, cutting off every word she could think to say. The tingles, the fingers brushing tantalizingly under her skin, the euphoria so sweet she passed out…that was holding back? She couldn’t help wondering what Ananchel had done to Sebastian.

“Oh,” Candra groaned, realizing it was probably more a case of done with rather than done to.

“You have no concept of how far Sebastian has gone to keep you safe, or how far he is willing to go. Ananchel would have taken him down just for kicks. He couldn’t help you; that doesn’t mean he didn’t want to.”

Ivy bounced up behind them, and Lofi released Candra, seeming herself again, although Candra was still a little stunned. Smiling brightly, Lofi fell into step with them to their first lecture together.

“This will be such a novelty. It’s been an age since I’ve been to school,” Lofi gushed.

Lofi stayed glued to Candra’s side all morning, despite never offering her a satisfactory explanation for being there, and protested that school was “so much fun” whenever Ivy or Candra complained about a lecture or even homework.

“That’s going too far,” Candra scolded her during lunch. “You can’t possibly like homework.”

The cafeteria was crowded with students huddled and chattering at small round tables and eating from the self-service buffet.

“Why not? I get to read, write reports, and figure out puzzles. What’s not to love?”

“Puzzles?” Ivy asked, bemused, while pushing cubes of cucumber around her plate. Her eyes flickered up and glanced at Lofi, whose eyes never strayed far from Candra.

Candra knew Ivy was watching Lofi watch her and was still trying to figure out what was going on. Candra couldn’t help with an explanation; Lofi was as evasive as Sebastian and Brie had been over the last few days. Any questions about why they were here or what was going on were met with questions about school, music, books—anything to distract from the original subject.

“Calculus,” Candra offered Ivy, looking up again from the newspaper where she was reading about the escalating rate of muggings in the city.

Ivy switched her attention to her smoothie, sucking it up with a slurping noise that made the uptown girls glower in her direction. She ignored them completely and stared down at Lofi with raised eyebrows. “Candra’s right. You’re going too far now. No one likes calculus.”

“I do,” Lofi countered, curiously examining one of the lumpy French fries from her lunch by holding it in front of her face between two fingers and prodding it with her fork.

“You are seriously out there.” Ivy laughed humorlessly.

Lofi dropped the fry and lifted her face to Ivy. “Thanks.” She flashed her usual full grin, taking Ivy’s comment as a compliment.

Candra laughed at Ivy’s mystified expression, thinking maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having Lofi around after all. At the very least it would be amusing.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Lofi wasn’t challenged by any of the subjects they covered—at least as far as Candra could see—only curious. She raised her hand more than anyone else to ask questions, and a couple of times to correct the lecturer.

“You’d think she’s never been to school before,” Ivy observed quietly to Candra before she left them at her usual corner to go home.

Lofi addressed Candra’s concern before she even had a chance to verbalize it. “She’ll be fine. There will be someone looking out for Ivy. Ananchel won’t get anywhere near her.” Then, to her utter surprise, Lofi turned away to cross the street. “And I haven’t been to school in a while, not for a long while actually.”

“Hey, where are you going?” Candra called after her.

Lofi passed a group of four young men hanging out outside a comic book store and muttering among themselves. One of them winked, acting all cocky until she winked back making him back down, looking downright shy. She had an odd effect on men, Candra observed without any real surprise.

“Day shift is over. The evening shift has arrived,” Lofi answered happily.

“Evening shift?” Candra echoed to herself, watching Lofi practically dancing away.

Candra didn’t know if she was supposed to go somewhere. Or was she supposed to wait? There wasn’t much around: the avenue she was on was mainly older residential. The only business on the tree-lined street was from the comic book store, the small coffee shop, and a doctor’s office with a loudly squeaking sign hung outside, directing patients into the basement of one of the tall houses.

Despite it being one of the nicer areas, she wasn’t about to stand around and end up a victim of one of the muggers she had been reading about earlier. Or even worse, what if Ananchel showed up again? At least with a mugger she could fight back. She turned around, deciding to head for home, and crashed straight into Sebastian’s very solid chest.

“Hello.”

Candra was knocked so breathless it was a struggle to manage a muted “hi.”

Sebastian’s eyes lowered, and she followed his line of sight to his chest where her hands were pressed against his white T-shirt, her fingers slightly bent. She could feel heat of his skin radiate through the thin fabric and penetrate her fingertips. Still, it took a couple of seconds before she could move. Sebastian had that effect on females, much like the effect Lofi had had on the guys a few moments ago.

“Sorry.” She cringed when he had to wrap his long fingers around one of her hands and then the other to remove them from his body. “I didn’t see you.”

“You’re not very observant, are you?” he quipped dryly.

Candra flinched away from the touch of his bare skin on hers and the tingles it made erupt in the pit of her stomach. “I’m plenty observant. Thanks.”

Sebastian let out an exasperated sigh. “Hmm, yeah, whatever. It wasn’t a conversation starter.” He took her bag from her shoulder without asking and added it to his with one hand. In the other he carried a faded brown leather jacket clamped between his fingers. He didn’t tell Candra to follow him or even check to see if she was still with him when he walked away; he seemed to simply presume she would be, and she was.

“Where’s Brie?”

“A meeting,” he replied without looking at her.

“A meeting?”

“A meeting,” he repeated.

“With who?” Candra had to take some quick steps to keep up with his long strides. She wanted to see his face when he answered.

“An old friend,” he said, taking her by the elbow to cross the street, looking up and down for traffic before guiding her the way a grown up would do with a child or an old person.

Candra stared up at the vein standing out from the lightly golden skin on his neck as they crossed. She supposed tension or anxiety caused it and surmised from it that something was bothering him. Her eyes tightened. “You don’t have meetings with friends. You have lunch dates, dinner dates…coffee.”

His lips pressed together in a hard line, and his shoulders tightened. The muscle in his jaw flexed. “Do you really need to go on?”

“I could,” Candra snapped defiantly.

“I’m sure.”

“What is it about me that you don’t like?”

They had come to the gates of the small park she always cut through to get home from college.

“What makes you think I don’t like you?” Sebastian didn’t as much as glance at her sideways when he spoke. “Or that I think one way or the other about you at all?”

“Call it women’s intuition,” Candra said dryly.

“Women’s intuition?” He snickered. “You’re not exactly what I’d call a woman, little girl.”

Candra bit her tongue, choosing to ignore the bait. There weren’t many people around the park; it was mainly used as a shortcut through a city block. There weren’t even any trees inside its boundary fence, just a few bushes, one of the many angel monuments scattered across the city. The nearest one to them had its hands clasped in prayer and looked to the sky as if it was waiting for something. A narrow pathway wound through the grass and past a collection of boulders that didn’t look like they belonged there. They could have been some trendy form of modern art, except they had been there so long some of the stone had been worn smooth from people sitting on them.

Candra took a deep breath, hoping she wasn’t starting a conversation she couldn’t take back. She wanted answers so badly she could taste them, but at the same time, somewhere in the back of her mind, she considered the possibility Sebastian could tell her things she didn’t want to know.

“In the hospital, I thought you were dangerous. I thought you were there to hurt me, but it wasn’t like that at all, was it?”

It took a moment for her to notice Sebastian wasn’t beside her anymore. She turned around to see he had stopped dead about five steps behind. He was doing that thing again, where he made her feel he wasn’t looking at her, but rather he was looking through her, as if he could look into her mind and dig out whatever she was thinking. It was unnerving the way his brown eyes darkened intensely. She felt exposed, and she had to fight an urge to cross her arms over her chest, except she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he could affect her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t shake the feeling he already knew.

He didn’t answer. He wasn’t even moving apart from his impossibly long eyelashes fluttering when he blinked.

“I make you uncomfortable, don’t I? That’s why you don’t like me,” she suggested in a hushed voice.

Still he said nothing. An old couple walking past on the pathway had to step around them to get by. The woman glared at both of them in turn, clearly disgruntled by their lack of manners. Candra mused over what they must look like to outsiders: her in her Saint Francis uniform and him looking moody and modelesque, like he’d just stepped off a movie screen and into real life.

Finally she approached him, bringing herself so close she was looking up to his face. He was taller up close, at least a head over her, so she couldn’t meet his eyes when he looked straight ahead of him, but she tried.

“Tell me who I am,” she demanded.

Sebastian looked down to her then, gold and amber flickered in his eyes blazing like a hot coal fire. Candra could see her own reflection in the deep blackness of his pupils and knew she had asked the right question.

“We didn’t fool you for a second, did we?” Sebastian kept his fiery gaze on her.

Candra guessed he was about to inadvertently spill the beans on everything. All she had to do was play along.

“No, you didn’t,” she stated coolly.

They were so close now she could feel the heat rising from his body. Her heart sped until it was galloping along, and her temperature shot up, mingling with his heat between them. A small muscle twitched at the side of his mouth, and his hand came up to rest on her shoulder. She couldn’t breathe. Even through the cotton of her school shirt, Sebastian’s touch burned her skin.

Then he did something Candra didn’t expect—not in a million years. Candra couldn’t move. Sebastian was going to kiss her, and she was amazed to realize she wanted him to. All of a sudden her blood was like acid burning through her entire body, and her head felt clouded. She was putty under his hands. It wasn’t like she had a choice; she had to kiss him. Her lips parted in anticipation, her head tilted back, and without conscious decision, her eyes closed.

Behind her eyelids, fireworks exploded, white fireworks. They could have been anywhere; she didn’t care. It was as if time slowed down. Sebastian’s breath was hot as it brushed the side of her face, and he smelled delicious, like cool, fresh mint mingled with musk and salt.

She didn’t know how it happened. A few moments ago she couldn’t stand him, now she couldn’t think of one thing in the world she wanted more than to feel his lips moving against hers.

Sebastian slid his hand slowly and intently up Candra’s neck, absorbing the shiver of her skin through his fingertips and leaving a trail of goose bumps over her flesh. His other hand brushed hair from her face, and his lips parted close to her ear. Candra let out a quiet gasp.

“Nice try,” he whispered.

“W-What?” Candra stammered.

She opened her eyes. Sebastian had pulled away from her and everything was just like it was before. They were standing on the pathway in the small park. A woman was casting them a disapproving look over her shoulder as she exited the park with her husband, and the only heat Candra felt was coming from the sun. The one thing that was the same was her heart; it was still thundering like a racehorse.

A furious heat burned up her neck and over her cheeks. Sebastian smirked in a patronizing way, patiently waiting for her to regain her senses while the blood in her face smoldered beneath her skin.

He did that on purpose. Why? Was it just to embarrass me or prove he could? The questions she knew she would ask rushed through her mind. Asking Sebastian why he didn’t kiss her would be akin to admitting she wanted him to…and she didn’t.

Tears prickled her eyes, and she looked away briefly, blinking and refusing to allow them to spill over.

“Nice try,” he repeated. “I know you’re guessing.”

Candra desperately wanted to scream or hit him, or both. Her fists clenched by her side.

“Even though the answer is perfectly obvious,” he added with a wink.

“What? So you’re saying I’m stupid now?” Candra raged.

Sebastian’s smile slipped. “Absolutely not. You simply have to look harder. I can’t tell you because I promised Ambriel I wouldn’t until she is ready, and you can’t see because your mind doesn’t want to accept the truth yet.”

“What kind of mumbo jumbo crap is that?” Candra spun on her heels and headed to a large mound of rock nearby. His last words confirmed two things to her: Brie knew exactly what was going on, and if Sebastian had to promise not to tell her, it was because he wanted to. She sat down heavily and regretted it right away when a shard of loose rock scratched her lower back deeply, making her wince painfully.

Sebastian walked toward her slowly, rubbing his hand roughly on the back of his neck, trying to ease a knot there. The muscles flexed and tensed in his arm with each stroke.

“What are you doing now?” he asked impatiently.

“I’m sitting down, and I don’t intend to move until you give me some answers.”

Chapter Three

Sebastian grimaced, watching her small face scrunch up into a hard scowl as he got nearer, and he almost laughed when it dawned on him that she didn’t even know she was doing it, making faces at him out here in the broad daylight. He understood she didn’t know who he really was or about the monster he was capable of becoming. Thanks to the promise he had made to Ambriel, he couldn’t warn her. Although Sebastian knew he was just as stubborn as Ambriel and it wouldn’t take long for him to come up with something to get around his vow. Or at least part way around it—there was some information he had no intention of sharing. After all, he was protecting her, protecting both of them as far as he could since he found them. Not that he wasn’t looking all along, but Ambriel was meticulous in her usage of the blessing Payne gave her to keep the kid away from all of them.

Sebastian almost snorted out loud, thinking how ironic it was that Payne was the one who broke the covenant, since he was the one who first suggested it.

Candra was still making faces at him. He tilted his head watching her quietly rage, well aware it was probably at him. A kind of seething anger at things she didn’t know and would never understand seemed to linger within her. He found it cute in a bizarre way, a small child kicking at the ankles of an angry giant. Sebastian hadn’t intended to take things so far when he’d almost kissed her. He knew women often had a strong reaction to him one way or another, but he never acted on it…well almost never. He had never once done what he just did to Candra, confusing her like that. It was so easy with her standing in front of him so angry and innocent, so consumed by passion and questions that he couldn’t resist. He made a promise to himself to never do it again.

He nodded to the spot on the rock beside her, indicating his intention to sit. He knew she was nervous around him, and he preferred not to push that feeling further. Things were complicated enough, and they would be getting more complicated soon. Truth had a way of rising and making itself known, even when it was hidden beneath layers and layers of crud and the murky waters of lies and deceit. For Sebastian, it all came down to control, how much Candra would learn and when.

Candra appeared to take his nod as a request to join her and pointedly looked away without reply, but not until after her eyes had subconsciously flickered to her right, telling Sebastian she wanted him to sit with her; she just didn’t want to admit that she wanted him to sit with her. He held back the smile he felt, knowing it would antagonize her, and took the space where the rock had become mostly smoothed out over the years. “So how was class today?”

Candra’s head swung around, eyes popping. “School! You’re asking me about school. When I’m trying to figure out my entire life, you want to know how my English lecture went?”

For want of a better reply, Sebastian answered simply. “Yeah. Isn’t it polite to show interest?”

She huffed and turned away again, pulling her legs up to her knees and adjusting her skirt at the same time. “That’s not what I want to hear.”

Candra was beginning to make Sebastian question the nature verses nurture thing. From what he knew of Candra’s mother, from Brie, she was sweet and laid back, never asking questions about things she didn’t want to know. Candra was stubborn and inquisitive, much more like Ambriel not that long ago. He smiled at her apparent determination to ignore him until she got some answers.

When she leaned forward, Sebastian saw the small, uneven red stain spreading on her back, below the place where her long dark hair settled. He wasn’t sure how she managed to damage herself again until he noticed the tiny shard of jagged stone jutting out where the otherwise smooth boulder had cracked. In her eagerness to sit, she had cut herself. It was another confirmation for him of what a delicate little thing Candra really was, although she didn’t look it. He found himself taking advantage of her momentary silence—since there weren’t many of them—to observe her. He wasn’t used to being so close to her. She was a good deal smaller than him, and slim. But even in her uniform, he could see her body was naturally toned and sculpted; her muscles contained the genetic memory of a warrior. Her delicate features and her symmetrical bone structure were definitely angelic in nature, but made softer by the human blood that flowed through her veins. Candra was certainly beautiful.

He shook his head, smiling to himself when she still wouldn’t look. He reached into his pocket. His fingers closed around the small stone he always carried, and he pulled it out slowly, hoping she wouldn’t notice. He ran his thumb over the smoothness while debating if this was a good idea. Strictly speaking, it didn’t come under any of the warnings Ambriel had issued, and the girl was bleeding. It had to hurt, or at the very least sting, despite the fact she seemed to be stubbornly ignoring it.

Somewhere deep inside Sebastian was vaguely aware this was breaking the rules, but it didn’t take much to force the thought back down. He knew Candra was searching for answers, and she wouldn’t take long to find them. He wasn’t telling her the things he wanted her to know, and it certainly wouldn’t lead her to the one thing he wished she’d never have to learn. He couldn’t bear to think of how she would look at him after she found out what he really was.

Over the last months, he had come to think of Candra as a responsibility he never expected. Watching over her had given him purpose again after so many years, and strangely, at some point, what she thought of him had begun to matter. He even went so far, once or twice, as to not be as careful about concealing himself as he should have been. He knew she would be confused by what she saw and wouldn’t remember clearly enough to ask questions, thinking it was her imagination. Confusion was something Sebastian knew a lot about these days: wanting to be seen and at the same time wanting to stay hidden was making his brain spin inside his skull.

Regardless, he wanted to give her a little nudge in the right direction and to help her ask the right questions. He hated that the human emotion he was feeling so often lately was making him as devious as a Tenebras.

He placed the stone lightly at her back, feeling the heat radiate up through his fingertips and arm, filling his body. It didn’t take much; it was just a scratch, but it was enough.

Candra leapt from the rock, landing extremely ungracefully in front of him, panting and red-faced. She frantically tried reaching around to the spot on her back where Sebastian knew tendrils of heat spread and dissipated, taking away the sting of pain.

“Don’t touch me,” she yelled.

In true Acheron form, the only man within hearing distance put his head down and walked away fast in the opposite direction. Sebastian didn’t stand, certain she was already scared, or would be any moment now.

“What the hell did you do to me?” she demanded, this time at a lower volume. Candra kept putting her hand to her back, trying to see over her shoulder and turning side to side like a dog chasing its tail.

“I didn’t do anything to hurt you,” Sebastian stated with an even tone. Ungrateful kid, he thought.

“I felt something,” Candra hissed incredulously, wide-eyed and still trying to see the spot on her back. “Something hot.”

There was a twinge of guilt in Sebastian’s stomach; it was easy to ignore. He could deny what he was doing until she looked directly at him, and her expression told him denying wouldn’t make any difference now. He watched as a series of emotions transformed her face: anger, confusion, disbelief, fear, shock.

Candra was frozen, and Sebastian wasn’t sure what his next move should be. He suddenly realized he didn’t put enough thought into this. It wasn’t the first time he’d acted without thinking about the consequences when he was around Candra. He wanted to touch her; he wanted to let her know he was real and she was safe. She didn’t move away or scream when he lifted his hand, but her stomach sucked in harshly with her sudden inhale. It was enough to make Sebastian reconsider and drop his hand.

“What. The. Hell. Are. You?” Candra took an unsteady step, backing away from him.

Sebastian put his hands up in front of him, palms forward, letting her know she was safe. “Calm down. Everything is okay.”

“Okay,” she echoed as if she had no words of her own.

“I would never hurt you, Candra.”

“But you have…you have…” She stumbled another step backward, her whole body shaking, and Sebastian wondered if this was such a good idea after all.

Then her eyebrows pulled down, and her lips pressed together. Her incredulous expression returned. Sebastian took one more step, reaching out to catch her elbow. Her arm was rigid.

“You have wings,” she said calmly, as if hearing it would make it seem more real for her, rolling her tongue around each syllable slowly and carefully.

Sebastian had known the effect of the curleax before he’d used his on Candra. He knew that they rendered the user’s ability to hide their wings from their own kind useless. The small stones drew strength from emotions; using them was an act of will, just like containing their wings. Fortunately, even then, pure blood humans couldn’t see them. If he needed any further proof that Candra carried Payne’s blood, this would have been it. The first Nephil since the war, the first he didn’t kill on sight.

“You noticed that, huh?” he joked, trying to smile reassuringly and feeling only one side of his lips affected. He flexed his wings until they were fully extended and pulled them back in, fluttering closed.

A multitude of questions rocketed through Candra’s head, crashing against each other and becoming nothing more than a garbled mush. Her brain wasn’t coherent enough to phrase the words into anything resembling something that would make sense. His wings…his wings. She kept repeating it to herself…Sebastian’s wings. As if saying it over and over would make it lose its meaning. Sebastian had wings, and it wasn’t the first time she had seen them.

At the parking garage, she thought she’d imagined it or the paramedics had given her something. She remembered it like it was a dream, just like all the other times in the fuzzy memories.

When they stretched out behind him to their full majestic size, the fine plumage looked luxurious and soft as satin. They trembled gently in the light breeze, thinning out to golden tips at the very edges. Something about it reminded her of swans rising proudly from water.

Sebastian flexed his wings until they were fully extended once more and pulled them back in, fluttering closed. Candra cocked her head to the side, curious to get a better view as they retracted, pulling up at a joint midway and folding in on themselves until they were pressed snugly to the full length of Sebastian’s back and as far down as mid-calf. She was considerably taken aback by his casual attitude. He’d said, “You noticed that,” as if he’d told her he had pancakes for breakfast.

She shivered, coming back into her body with a jolt. It was getting dark, and she had no idea how long they had been there staring at each other. His wings were gone, but she was positive she hadn’t imagined it; the wings were real.

Sebastian was still standing ramrod straight in front of Candra, his face completely devoid of any kind of emotion, and she found it oddly calming. She couldn’t take her eyes from him; he was the only thing that existed for her in that moment: the way the golden highlights in his hair caught the fading light, the shadows that moved around him, the darkness seeping in to bleach the color from his brown eyes turning them a silvery gray.

“Are you okay?” he asked, but to Candra, his voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

She couldn’t recall if she answered him; she barely recalled nodding. Then it was over.

A shrill ringing broke into Candra’s mental meanderings, along with the sound of cars on the street nearby, and somewhere close by a train passed through, and a motorbike engine revved before the sound rumbled away into the distance with a thunderous roar.

She blinked and took a rattled breath. Her eyes were dry and stinging. She wondered if she had been staring so intently she forgot to blink. The hairs on her arms stood on end, and she shivered; the air had turned cool, and it was almost night.

Sebastian reached into his pocket and retrieved a small flip phone. He never took his eyes from Candra’s as he lifted it to his ear.

“Yes?” He paused, apparently waiting for the caller to speak. “We stopped for coffee.”

She found herself tilting her head again to examine him. He looked just like any of the boys she hung out with, nothing extraordinary—well at least nothing extraordinary to identify him as not human. A tremor shook her legs for a moment. Not human. The words rang out in her mind. Her eyes wandered to the statue a distance behind him, caught in the semi-darkness of the city, looking ghostly pale, almost iridescent, and gazing to heaven. The stone wings were opened wide, hard and rigid. A carved angel.

“Yes, coffee,” Sebastian said with a hard edge of annoyance toward to whoever was on the other end of the phone. “I told you I wouldn’t.”

Candra raked her brain. There was nothing there to set him apart from other guys. Even in his voice…yeah. It was cool and assured, and it could be considered cocky, but most of the teenage guys she knew were cocky to some extent. They presumed, being from an all-girl school, she was starved of male attention and would be grateful for their advances.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” He didn’t say goodbye before closing the phone with a snap and pushing it back into his pocket. “We have to leave. Apparently you have a visitor waiting.”

“A visitor?” Candra asked. Her voice was husky, her throat dry.

Sebastian opened his jacket out and held it open for her, raising his eyebrows in a silent request to approach.

She nodded, but something still didn’t feel right. Sebastian moved behind her and held the jacket so she could reach her hands into the sleeves. She slipped it on with stiff arms. It was too big, and the sleeves came down over her hands, but it was warm, and it smelled nice: the scents she’d noticed before, when she thought he was about to kiss her. Something else too, a bitter trace of an odor that scratched the back of her tongue: cigarettes. He didn’t smell of cigarettes when she sat beside him, so she deduced he spent time recently somewhere where people did—a bar maybe.

Candra’s hair was trapped beneath the collar of his jacket, and she reached back to pull it out, at the same time as Sebastian cupped his fingers under her hair at the nape of her neck. Their fingers touched for an instant, and Candra pulled her hand away sharply, allowing him to finish.

She still couldn’t figure out what it was that was so off about him, and her face and shoulders tightened with the mental exertion of trying to work it out.

Sebastian stood behind her, waiting patiently yet again despite the fact they had to leave. There was someone waiting to talk to her.

Candra decided she was in shock. She had to be. It explained the time lapse and her legs not wanting to move her. What Sebastian had said earlier, about not wanting to accept the truth, made sense to her now. She weighed the possibility her brain was trying to block out what she saw.

Without warning this time, Sebastian’s hands came to rest at the top of Candra’s arms. He was perfectly still, holding her tentatively. She was sure he was waiting to see if she was comfortable with his touch. Eventually he turned her slowly to face him, and she complied without hesitation, looking up to see an unexpected amused smile.

She pursed her lips, and a bolt of electricity flashed through her body like a shot of adrenaline, a flash of pure excitement. She stepped back before any words had a chance to fully come together in her head.

“I swear, Candra, I won’t hurt you,” Sebastian promised immediately, holding his hand up again to show he meant no harm. His eyes betrayed the hurt Candra’s reaction inadvertently inflicted.

“I’m not scared,” she replied honestly. His eyes narrowed skeptically.

“I’m not. Really, I’m not.”

Sebastian’s bottom lip protruded slightly when he pursed them. In response, Candra searched her mind and body again for something, anything to tell her she was in danger. Her heart was beating normally. Her breathing was easy. There were no butterflies or spike of fear—there was nothing there. She had no doubt in her mind Sebastian was capable of being dangerous if he wanted to be; she’d sensed it from him right away. There was more than a touch of something feral about him. That was the wrongness she felt: she should be scared of him, but she wasn’t.

“I have to take you home now. There might be some answers waiting for you.”

Answers…answers were good. She needed them if she was ever going to process the things she was finally, if belatedly, working out.

“I have a question.”

One of the things Candra worked out was that Sebastian wasn’t playing by the rules. Brie made him promise not to tell her what he was, so instead he showed her. She guessed from the phone call he was meant to take her right home, instead he sat with her all day while the cogs of her sluggish brain turned over the silent answers he was giving her.

“I’ll answer if I can.” His fingers flexed out by his side.

Sebastian had mentioned the right questions before. Candra was sure at this point the right question was one he could answer. His jaw tightened in anticipation, making the small muscles at the side of his face jump, and she took a deep breath, steeling herself for his answer.

“Are you the good guys or the bad guys?”

His gaze fell to the ground almost instantly, his shoulders slumping. She knew that couldn’t be a good sign. When Sebastian’s eyes once again lifted to meet hers, the dying light of the day caught the gold, picking it out from the silvery gray, making them shimmer. He sighed heavily and then took a labored breath.

“When I figure that out for myself, you have my word I will give you an answer,” he admitted earnestly.

By the time they arrived back at the townhouse, Brie and Candra shared, the sky had turned almost black, the way it only can on a moonless night in Acheron. Sebastian momentarily wished for a time when the skyline wasn’t as crowded and the blanket of night was scattered with pinpricks of white light filling the blackness.

Candra walked silently beside him the whole way back to the house. It suited him that way. He didn’t want to be the one to have to answer the questions he knew she would have buzzing around her head right now. He had absolutely no idea what was bringing on his sudden bout of nerves. There was a fine line to tread between revealing what she needed to know and revealing too much, and part of him was wracked with apprehension about the too much part. Sebastian didn’t want his intrusion in her life to ruin her relationship with Ambriel. He knew he wasn’t malicious despite what anyone thought, and he certainly didn’t want Candra to hate him as he was sure she inevitably would. It wasn’t the first time he’d regretted coming back.

Candra walked closer to him than she had earlier. Sebastian couldn’t figure out why, but the distance had closed between them on more than a physical level. The barrier Candra had maintained over the last few days had been demolished. He worried she would regret it and found himself, yet again, wishing she would never have to.

The house was a three-story at the end of a tree-lined street in a nice part of the city, where there were fewer of the imposing and ugly glass skyscrapers that had sprung up over the last hundred years. Sebastian disliked them intensely. They overshadowed many of the streets, and their reflective surfaces only succeeded in making the city seem even more overcrowded. The last thing he wanted to see, day in and day out, was a reflection of his own misery. He still remembered Acheron as the place it all began.

The lights were on in the living room as they approached, and Sebastian had barely grazed his foot on the bottom step of the stairs that led to the red front door when Lofi flew through it. Her expression was thunderous.

“Where have you been? You were supposed to have been here hours ago.”

Candra smiled weakly. Sebastian sighed and trudged up the steep steps, suddenly feeling like he was dragging concrete around his ankles.

“Are you okay?” Lofi asked Candra, taking her bag from her shoulder and darting Sebastian a vicious glare.

He was nervous as hell; he knew Gabe would be furious if he knew what had transpired at the park—Brie even more so.

Candra was still looking down at her feet. She tilted her head sideways to snatch a look at him and just as quickly darted her eyes away again.

“Yes, I’m fine. We went for coffee. It was, em…nice.”

It shocked Sebastian that she was covering for him—not that he was going to complain, and he made every effort not to outwardly show his surprise.

“Nice?” Lofi scoffed, clearly already dubious of their story.

They made their way into the front room where Ambriel was waiting for them, sitting on the couch with her hands clasped nervously in her lap. Sebastian felt a pang of guilt, knowing they wouldn’t be here if he had just been capable of minding his own business in the first place, if he could have stayed away, if he had never agreed to come to this forsaken place in the beginning. He wasn’t created a monster…but it had happened, all of it, and there was no way to change the past. Anyway, he argued with himself, if he had stayed away it was quite possible Candra would be dead. For some reason the very idea made him shudder.

This was a home for Ambriel. He knew the very moment he stepped inside the door. Everything from the spotlessly clean surfaces to the meticulously placed furniture—minimal and yet homey—screamed her personality. Ambriel was always like that: just enough for what was needed, just enough to be ready for whatever came next. She never planned too far ahead; that was made clear by the love seat positioned against the wall and the one matching brown leather La-Z-Boy situated by the bay window. Ambriel wasn’t expecting many visitors, and so she didn’t believe it necessary to provide seating.

Gabe stood by the fireplace, bent forward to carefully study the several church candles in the grate and actively avoiding looking at Ambriel. Sebastian had unconsciously taken the seat next to Ambriel and rested his hand on her shoulder, and only noticed when her hand came up to lightly pat his. When Lofi averted her eyes, a tremor of regret rushed through him.

Nice going, he thought to himself. Hurting the ones closest to me, breaking promises, lying…

“Candra, this is Gabe,” Ambriel said. Her voice was lifeless, defeated.

Candra stepped forward into the room. She didn’t look at or acknowledge Ambriel, Lofi, or even Sebastian. Her full attention was intensely concentrated on Gabe. He stood up and turned toward her. Candra was still wearing Sebastian’s jacket, and her small hand poked out from the long sleeve when she lifted it to shake Gabe’s. He took her hand, and a small smile crept across his lips. He towered over her, and her hand looked lost in his large golden grip. Her back was straight and proud as she weighed and measured him assuredly, taking in his short dark hair and severe masculine features. Gabe had the wide shoulders and muscled physique of a soldier. Gabe was created a warrior just like Payne had been.

It was another life, a different time when they had to be soldiers, Sebastian reflected. It was just another part of history now, and he truly wished for it to stay that way.

Candra’s chin lifted an inch, defiantly. “As in the Angel Gabriel, I take it?”

Chapter Four

In the blink of an eye, Brie flew at Sebastian, only held back by Lofi firmly gripping her arms. Still she fought to get at him while he looked on, riddled with the guilt that was clearly evident on his face.

“Yes,” Gabe replied.

Candra would have known even if he hadn’t answered, even if he’d lied, that he was connected to the others. She knew the instant he turned, the light golden flecks in the pupils of his almond-shaped eyes were a dead giveaway. He had the same air of maturity in his young face; even though he did look older than the others, he would still barely pass for twenty-one. Like Lofi and Sebastian, he was beautiful. His auburn hair created a dark halo around his perfectly symmetrical angel features.

“How could you?” Brie sneered toward Sebastian, who was backed up against the wall between the love seat and the door.

“He didn’t tell me that he’s an angel…” Strictly speaking it was true. “I guessed, Brie, and you’ve just confirmed my suspicion.”

Candra pulled her hand away from Gabe’s gentle grip. Touched by an angel, she thought and bit back the bleak chuckle that almost escaped at the absurdity of her life. Brie turned to Candra, going soft in Lofi’s constraints and looking older than she ever had. Candra wondered when Brie had last had any sleep at all…or had eaten. Her jeans were hanging loosely on her hips, and she was pale, almost chalky white. She looked relieved and scared, all at the same time.

Candra rolled her eyes, hoping they didn’t possess supersensitive hearing so her thumping heart wouldn’t give away the fact that while she wasn’t afraid, she was freaking out just a little on the inside.

“You sent me to Catholic school, Brie. They may have mentioned angels once or twice. It only took me this long to work out because the idea is too ridiculous to entertain.” She looked down to the ground as the truth seemed to hit her square in her chest with a painful thud, and she understood what Sebastian had meant. “I guess I knew as soon as I first saw Lofi and Sebastian, but my mind didn’t want to see it.”

When she lifted her head, Brie was watching her with concern. “Are you okay?”

Candra laughed then, a half-snort, half-sigh, and rubbed the back of her neck with the flat of her palm. It was damp. She didn’t need the jacket inside the house, but it covered the small blood stain on her back where Sebastian had healed her. Of course she realized now it hadn’t been the first time he’d healed her—he was obviously the reason she’d lived through the fall at the parking garage. If keeping him on her side meant sweating a little, so be it.

It was the same reason she’d covered for him when they arrived at the door. Candra had sensed that all Lofi’s irritation was directed at Sebastian, and that the blame for disappearing with her would fall firmly at his feet, but Sebastian held answers she needed. He seemed the only one willing to share. She had wanted to be sure that if whatever conversation was waiting for them inside didn’t tell her enough, Sebastian would still be there to fill in the gaps.

She had guessed when Sebastian lied on the phone about them going for coffee that it bothered him. He had flinched away from the words and looked uncomfortable; again, outside with Lofi, he had flinched at the lie. Lofi didn’t notice, but Candra did. In her experience, it was harder to notice things like that in people you see every day for a long time; behavioral quirks were easily dismissed. If she was going to get the whole truth from anyone, it was going to be Sebastian, and if he was lying, she’d know now that she had worked out his “tell.” Covering for him was a small price to pay and so were her own white lies.

“Yes, I think I’m okay, but I want to know what’s going on.” She knew it was highly unlikely she would get the truth right now. If they were covering something for as long as she had been alive, she guessed they wouldn’t spill everything right away.

Brie looked so shaken and upset that Candra had the urge to try to feed her chicken noodle soup, the way Brie used to do to her whenever something bothered her. It was Gabe that answered.

“Of course.”

Candra didn’t miss the short warning glance in Sebastian’s direction before he guided her to the La-Z-Boy to sit. She didn’t like the way he made her feel like a guest in her own home. He took a seat on the love seat near Candra, and Brie returned to her own seat while seeming to keep as much distance between herself and them as possible. Unperturbed, Lofi sat on the arm next to her and wrapped her arm around Brie’s shoulder pulling her nearer. This left only Sebastian standing uncomfortably with his back to the wall.

“So, what do you want to know?” Gabe started.

“Everything,” she answered without a moment hesitation.

His handsome face lit up with a chuckle, and his head fell back a little. Candra wondered why that was amusing.

“Everything is an awful lot to tell,” he said brightly. “Maybe we should start with the simple things.” Again his eyes shot to Sebastian with a silent warning.

Sebastian’s guarded expression revealed nothing of his emotions. He simply crossed his arms over his chest, but Candra noticed how the sinewy muscle flexed in his forearms, betraying him and giving away the tension he seemed to be feeling.

“Maybe,” she muttered frostily, secretly hoping she would get all her answers before the night was over regardless. “Am I an angel?” Even as the words passed her lips, they sounded insane—this whole thing was beyond insane.

Brie winced, but calmed within seconds when Lofi began rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

“No,” Gabe said with a confidence which was impossible to doubt.

Candra sighed out a breath she was holding, feeling relieved and disappointed at the same time because clearly her part in this whole situation was a little bit more complicated. “Is Brie?”

Gabe turned his gaze to Brie in a move that seemed almost reflexive, as if his gaze was drawn to her. She avoided him, keeping her eyes on the stripped floor, staring at it with determination. He smiled at her sadly, but she didn’t see. “No.” Then he turned his attention back to Candra.

“Why was that woman after me?”

“After you?” he echoed as if she’d just spoken in a foreign language. Even so, he was an angel; if she had spoken in another language, Candra was sure he would still have understood. Wasn’t speaking in tongues meant to be part of the angelic deal?

Acid bubbled in her stomach. He couldn’t actually deny that Flame-hair was after her, could he? Especially since she’d been outside of Candra’s school twice now, to her knowledge: once that morning and once the day Flame-hair followed her—the day she did that thing that made Candra fall from the parking garage. Who knew how many other times there had been? Candra shivered uncomfortably just thinking about it, and her eyes darted to Sebastian, remembering what Lofi said about Flame-hair not holding back with him.

“Yes, after me,” she stated harshly. “If you are going to be honest, then let’s be honest.”

Sebastian pushed off from the wall, uncrossing his arms and clenching his fists so tightly the veins protruded from his flesh. He stood stock-still in anticipation of Gabe’s response.

“We don’t know. Who’s to know why she does what she does.”

Candra glowered at Gabe dangerously and bounced from her seat. “Fine! If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but please don’t come here acting under the misconception that I am naïve or stupid.”

He caught her hand as she tried to move away. “Wait.” His voice was flooded with impatience, and she looked down to him—she had no choice: his fingers were like iron closed around her wrist. “Sit,” he instructed.

She didn’t. She waited, unsure of what to do. Candra didn’t know if she could trust his answers. Sebastian appeared to be the only person in the room willing to be honest with her about anything. It was all so complicated. She didn’t want to trust him either, but her choices appeared limited.

“Please sit down, Candra,” Brie whispered quietly.

Candra felt a twist of shame inside her, knowing she should also trust Brie, but how could she when Brie had been lying to her? All the same, Candra sighed, unable to deny her, and retook her seat.

“We don’t know what Ananchel wants with you,” he began with an innocent smile. His long arms rested on his knees, bringing him forward a little. “She is unpredictable; there could be any number of reasons why she has been in your shadow. It could be as simple as she saw Sebastian watching you, which alone would be enough to pique her interest. Of course, it could have even been a coincidence.”

His last conclusion directed Candra to her next question. This one she asked while staring straight at Sebastian who was picking at his perfectly manicured nail and blatantly evading eye contact.

“Why were you following me?”

“I’ve already answered that question,” he said without lifting his head.

“No,” Brie added. “He was following me.” She glanced over her shoulder to him sadly. Her shoulders drooped just a little further, and Candra couldn’t help being inquisitive about these two and what, exactly, had their relationship been in the past.

Sebastian flinched. Maybe it was true she conceded, but not completely.

“He’s your brother?” Candra indicated to Sebastian by nodding her head. They were all still being too vague for her liking, and Lofi didn’t appear inclined to add anything at all.

“In a way,” Brie answered in a hushed murmur.

Candra could feel her frustration getting ready to overflow the shaky dam holding it back. The air in the room was stifling, and she desperately wanted to remove the heavy jacket. She could feel the beads of sweat forming under her hair and trickling down the back of her neck, making her body feel hot and sticky. Candra briefly wondered if a well-placed scream would shock any of them into an honest reaction.

“How can he be your brother? If you aren’t one of them, how can he be your brother?” she fired out. Blood rushed to her face as more perspiration slid down her skin under the soft jacket. It seemed to make the scent coming off of it stronger. Spice, blood, leather. Sebastian. She hated that she wanted to inhale it so badly.

Brie looked stricken, deep frown lines creased her forehead, and Candra wanted to reach over and comfort her; she wanted to smooth out those lines. But she also wanted to grab Brie by the shoulders and vigorously shake the answers out of her.

“Brie fell for your father,” Sebastian forced out bitterly through gritted teeth.

“What?” Candra exclaimed. “What has my mother falling for my father got to…?” Before she could finish the sentence, the words caught in her throat. How could she have been such an idiot that she couldn’t put two and two together? That was what they had been arguing about over the last days: Brie falling for Payne. She was infuriated because they said it over and over, like falling for her father was such a bad thing. Suddenly she understood that it was a bad thing. It was a very bad thing. Brie didn’t just fall for her father—she had fallen for him as in falling from grace, as in giving up heaven, as in turning her back on everything she was.

“Oh…” It was the only word Candra could muster, and it seemed entirely inadequate as a reaction and so little for the woman who had given up so much to be a mother to her over the last twelve years.

She leapt from the seat and flung herself at Brie, wrapping her arms tightly around her shoulders. Candra had no idea why Brie did what she did for her father or for her, but she did it, and Candra was pretty sure it wasn’t something that could be taken back. She closed her eyes and hugged tighter. Brie’s body felt frail in her embrace. She could feel Brie’s shoulder blades under her skin, and when she lowered her fingers slightly, she felt the jagged bone she had never noticed before under the fabric of her light blouse. It was rough, as if something had been brutally snapped away. Candra’s closed eyes stung with tears threatening to escape. She couldn’t imagine what kind of love could possibly be strong enough that someone would give up their very existence for it.

When Candra pulled back, there were tears streaking down Brie’s cheeks. Candra knelt in front of her, rubbing away the tears which continued to fall from Brie’s face and totally ignoring the others in the room. Brie wrapped her fingers around Candra’s wrists as she continued to scrub at her reddened cheeks.

“I thought you would hate me for lying to you all this time,” she sobbed.

“I could never hate you,” Candra assured her, feeling her own tears spill over. “Never ever, no matter what.”

Brie gave her a small smile and settled Candra’s hands on her knees, swiping her remaining tears away with the back of her own hands before gently clasping Candra’s again. Candra stayed on the floor where she sat to be near to Brie. She still didn’t understand why she wasn’t completely freaking out. Brie was an angel: the Angel Ambriel, angel of protection as Candra remembered…how fitting. Her father, Payne…she wanted to know if he was really her father. Was he an angel?

“How did this happen? Why are you here?” Candra whispered only to Brie.

At exactly that moment Sebastian decided to speak up, banging his fist off the wall by his hip and stepping further away from the wall. “Enough!” he spat at Gabe. “She can’t be expected to take everything in right now.”

“I’m perfectly happy to keep going,” Candra said defiantly with narrowed eyes.

His chest was heaving, and his shoulders were straight and tight with tension. Candra noticed Lofi’s eyes scan the back of his shirt, but she couldn’t see what Lofi was looking at. Her expression remained neutral and impassive. It was too hard to gauge her.

“She really is much calmer than I expected,” Gabe agreed, and Candra thought she detected an undercurrent of pride in his tone. “She can handle the truth…she deserves the truth.”

“No!” Sebastian growled, making everyone look at him with wide, surprised eyes, especially Candra. His beautiful face was contorted with rage, and a thin vein bulged from his neck, betraying his rampant heartbeat. “She’s not one of them. She can’t be,” he panted.

“What is wrong with you?” Lofi asked, looking at him with confusion, like she had never seen him before. “It was you who found her. It was you who convinced the rest of us to come back here.”

Candra felt he may as well have slapped her in the face or punched her in the stomach for the effect his words had on her. Her head was spinning so fast. The room was so hot with the heavy jacket she still wore to keep the rest of them from seeing the blood and knowing Sebastian had revealed himself to her. Now, she felt as if all the air had abruptly been sucked from the room, leaving her gasping. She thought they had begun to form some sort of camaraderie, that maybe they were nursing the tentative shoots of a friendship. Then he had to go and trample her back down. Her bottom lip trembled at the unexpected betrayal; she wished she had never let herself begin to trust him. Candra sucked her lip in and pressed her mouth firmly closed. She refused to let him see he had any power to hurt her.

“Sebastian,” Gabe warned.

“Gabe,” Sebastian retorted. His expression was terrifying.

“Go to your room please, Candra,” Brie asked sternly.

“What?” Candra looked up to her disbelievingly and pulled her hands away to sit back on her heels. “You’re taking his side?” She waved her hand in Sebastian’s direction like she was swatting at a pesky insect.

Brie’s eyes met hers fiercely—the tired woman was gone. The stress seemed to have evaporated. Candra’s breath caught in her throat on the way out, making her cough. This was the strong and determined woman who had fussed over her and raised her from a snot-nosed kid.

“I am on the same side I have been on since the day you were born. The side I will always be on, no matter what. I’m on your side.”

Candra flinched away from her. She knew Brie was being honest and was right to be mad at her, but still the confusion zinged through every cell in Candra’s body. “I’m sorry, Brie…I…”

“Go to your room,” she ordered.

Candra dropped her eyes to the floor. Stupid, stupid, stupid, reverberated around her head. How could she ever suspect Brie would choose sides against her? Her face burned with the red-hot blood pulsing under her skin.

She didn’t lift her head as she left the room, not even when she walked passed Sebastian and heard him murmur, “It’s for your own good.”

Candra paused on the bottom step of the stair, hoping to hear something, anything that would give her a little more insight into whatever was going on. Through the narrow gap in the door, she could see Sebastian standing with hunched shoulders, staring down to the floor like he could find the answers to the universe there. His arms were locked rigidly by his side, and his hands yet again were balled into fists. Gabe appeared beside him; she couldn’t see him clearly. She could just about make out his hand as it came to rest on Sebastian’s shoulder.

“You know in the end it will come down to her choice,” he told Sebastian soundly.

Lofi appeared at the door and met Candra’s eyes for a brief moment before she lowered her eyes again and closed the door on Candra’s only hope of any real answers for now.

Sebastian had no idea why he’d stopped Gabe from telling Candra everything; it was what she wanted and needed. He’d panicked. He was overcome with an uncertainty that threatened to strangle him. What if she walked away? What if after everything, Ambriel lost her? Sebastian was well aware Gabe had been looking at him with accusation in his eyes for months. He knew Gabe thought that by protecting Candra that Sebastian had been attempting to absolve himself of past sins. Gabe’s more recent accusations were even more ridiculous. Besides, Sebastian justified to himself, he could live with his choices. Well, he could before, until the day he first saw Candra.

He knew what she was almost immediately; he knew she was one of them. Yet, innocence shone from her like a beacon calling to him. She was a siren, and for all intents and purposes, he’d become lost at sea the moment he laid eyes on her. He couldn’t lift a finger against her. He couldn’t hurt her.

The argument that ensued when Candra left the room was mainly about what was best for her. Gabe said she should know everything and be allowed to make her choice. Lofi agreed. Lofi was the one who had been there to pick up the pieces after Ambriel had left. She had become Sebastian’s best friend, had been glued to him for so long that she knew him better than he knew himself. Even she was dubious about his motives.

Sebastian knew that Ambriel would have kept Candra’s true nature from her forever if she could. That choice had already cost her dearly. Not all Watchers, as they referred to themselves, were paired. It would have been like having a twin rather than having a mate, and it wasn’t usually difficult to find that other Watcher. But when a Watcher fell, the way Ambriel had, they were separated from everything they were. All the mental ties set in place for protection were severed; they became lost.

For some insane reason, Sebastian had believed these rules wouldn’t apply to Ambriel and him. He thought that when he found her again, there would be some connection to her, but there wasn’t.

Ambriel was now caught between two worlds, neither human nor Watcher. It was one of the reasons they didn’t all fall: the fear of never belonging, and of the nothingness that would await them after. Ambriel would never truly belong anywhere again, and when she died, like the rest of them, she would still be nothing but dust. Sebastian’s heart broke for her, and he blamed himself completely.

He was torn between wanting Candra to know everything and wanting her to have that normal life Ambriel tried to give her and that they all craved. After all, it was coveting human life that got them all into this mess in the first place.

Candra’s spirits lifted considerably after taking a hot shower and falling back onto her bed in some comfy sweats. Like the downstairs, her room wasn’t elaborate. Being on the top floor meant that during the day it managed to catch quite a bit of light, and the lack of clutter made it airy. At night, if she looked really hard, she could see stars peeking over the skyline of the city. Sometimes she climbed out the sash window onto the small balcony—it was there for design rather than purpose—and onto the roof when the night was clear and the air was crisp, to watch the patch of sky above their home. She shuddered now at the idea that while she was watching the sky, someone or something was probably watching her.

Candra’s room was sparse by the standards of most teenagers. It consisted of a desk for homework, on which sat her laptop, and a massive bed—her one concession to luxury, along with her five-hundred-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. There were four doors in total: one was the entrance, one was to the bathroom, and the other two were twin doors into a dressing room and closet. The pictures on the walls were bold, modern prints that Candra had picked up the summer before in a small artist studio uptown. She laughed indignantly now, remembering how she had been drawn to them because she thought she saw birds in the shapes, great big birds diving and swooping through the air. She realized now it was probably something inside her all along drawing her to her own kind. So much of what Candra was had been hidden from her, and she wondered if, on some level, she had been searching for those missing pieces all along. She knew, despite Gabe’s denial, that she was connected to them, even if not an angel, and she wished she’d paid more attention in school. Candra saw long Internet searches in her immediate future.

A very low murmur of voices still emanated from the room downstairs, but she couldn’t make out the words even when she strained to hear. So instead she lay on her bed with the earphones of her iPhone banging a heavy drum beat of a song she couldn’t remember the name of.

She was almost relaxed to the point of drifting off to sleep when the music cut off, interrupted by ringing. Candra pulled the ear piece out to check the screen—Ivy.

“Hey.” Candra rubbed her eyes. She didn’t realize how close to sleep and oblivion she actually had been.

“So are you up for a party?” Ivy asked brightly.

Candra propped herself up on her elbow. “Party? What party?”

She listened as Ivy shuffled the phone to her other ear, normally a sign she was frustrated by something. “The one I told you about this morning when you were zoned out.”

Candra frowned because it seemed when her attention was on Sebastian, nothing else got past. “That really doesn’t narrow it down for me.”

“Just before Lofi showed up,” she prompted.

“Oh, right,” Candra muttered.

“‘Oh, right’ as in you remember, ‘oh, right’ as in you’re coming, or ‘oh, right’ as in yes, you were zoned out watching your new hottie stalker and didn’t hear a word I said?”

Candra giggled at the number of options she was being offered. “Number three…you could have reminded me.”

Ivy chuckled too. “Aww, progress. You admit he’s a hottie now?”

“Twisting my responses much, Miss Cross Examiner?” Candra laughed, rolling her eyes.

Ivy paused as if she was considering how to frame her next words. Candra could hear music playing in the background—a CD she’d given to Ivy; they shared the same taste in most things.

“Look,” Ivy started seriously, as if she was about to deliver some really bad news. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Lofi. She’s…she’s unusual. But, the way she skulks after you…it’s kind of creepy.”

Candra laughed out loud. It seemed that maybe Ivy wasn’t as won over as she first thought.

“Seriously, I liked her, I really did. I was just wondering if we can expect her to go all single white female anytime soon? I mean, I’d like to hide my puppy, and just so you know I’m not partial to boiled bunny.”

Candra laughed again, louder this time, and she could hear Ivy chuckling on the other end of the line. Eventually the laughter wore off, leaving a stilted silence until Ivy spoke again in a low reserved tone.

“I know there’s something going on with you, Candra, and I know you’ll tell me what it is when you’re ready. I just want you to know that you can trust me.”

“That’s really sweet,” Candra said dryly in a lame attempt to hide the fact that those few words almost brought her to her knees and twisted her gut into knots. Ivy was actually the one and only person she could trust right now. She was also the one and only person Candra couldn’t talk to. She couldn’t risk dragging Ivy into her mess. “So where’s the party?” Candra asked, biting back tears.

“Philip McCloud’s place. Are you in?”

“Yeah, why not,” Candra responded with every ounce of enthusiasm she could muster, thinking it would do her some good to forget everything for a few hours. The only fly in her perfect ointment would be how to get out of the house for a few hours. It would mean using the window and wearing jeans. It was a small price to pay. She could even live with seeing Philip. “I’ll get a cab and see you there in about an hour, okay?”

“I know I didn’t invite Lofi, but you could if you wanted to,” Ivy suggested hesitantly enough for Candra to know she was just being polite, but that the question was leading somewhere.

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that somehow.”

“Or Sebastian?”

And…that’s where it was leading to. Candra sighed, pushing herself off her bed to go to her closet. “I won’t be inviting either of them. Ivy…” She stopped. She didn’t know what to say to Ivy about Lofi and Sebastian or how she should explain their abrupt and overwhelming presence in her life. “They’re…well, they’re different. I don’t think they are the partying type.”

“Different how?” Ivy asked curiously, and Candra imagined her narrowed eyes would be appraising her if they were speaking in person.

Candra was silent for the longest time. She didn’t know how to explain, and she certainly couldn’t bring herself to tell Ivy any semblance of the truth. It was all too ludicrous.

“Just different.”

Ivy hummed dubiously at her evasiveness. Candra wasn’t surprised.

“You are very cryptic lately.”

With that, Ivy cut off suddenly, and Candra rolled her eyes dramatically. Ivy never said goodbye, something she’d picked up from too many television shows and movies where the characters always ended calls in that way.

Chapter Five

Exactly fifty-eight minutes later, Candra pulled up in a cab outside an enormous brownstone. Sneaking out was every bit as difficult as she anticipated. The hushed conversation downstairs continued, although she heard the front door open and close twice in the last hour, first with a low bang and a few minutes later with quieter swish. She used the small fire escape at the back of the house to get out; it wasn’t the first time she’d done so. There were several parties last summer that Candra knew Brie wouldn’t approve of, but Candra had made sure she didn’t miss. them

She followed a guy and girl up the steps to the door; they had the distinct appearance of a couple who had seen more than one party that night already. The guy’s legs weren’t exactly steady, and his hand was firmly placed on the butt of the girl, who wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothing.

The party was loud and crowded. Philip’s parents often went away on foreign trips, leaving him very much to his own devices with only house staff for company. As a result, most of the people here had been in attendance at more than one of Philip’s parties.

Every square inch of space was occupied by bodies: there were teenagers making out with abandon against the walls, on the stairs, and in every corner. A makeshift dance floor had been set up in the huge, marble-floored foyer. Candra peered into the dining room where a girl was dancing on the long, oval mahogany table surrounded by a rapt audience that was whooping and cheering her on.

Candra didn’t see Ivy in there. There was no sign of her, and Candra wasn’t sure she’d be able to find her when she didn’t know where to start looking. She fished her phone out of the small purse she was carrying and was just about to put it to her ear when fingers trailed across the back of her neck. She stiffened and turned sharply with her heart pounding in her chest.

“Crap, Philip! You frightened the life out of me!”

“Oops.” He sniggered. His dark hair was mussed like he hadn’t been too careful about running his fingers through it, and his eyes were blood shot. His crumpled shirt had become untucked on one side, and Candra wondered which unfortunate girl had been the object of his latest advances.

“Where’s the beer hiding?” she asked, keeping her hand pressed to her chest where it felt like her heart had tried to explode out of her ribcage.

“It hasn’t been that long. I’m sure you still remember where I keep everything.”

Candra ignored the suggestive tone of his voice. “Kitchen?”

“Yup.” He took a long sip from the red cup he was holding, attempting to keep his eyes trained on Candra the entire time and failing embarrassingly.

“Okay! Well, thanks for the stimulating conversation yet again, Philip,” she said caustically, wondering how in the world she had ever found him attractive.

Around graduation they had spent every available moment at these parties, making out. Of course, that was when he wasn’t too busy making out with any other piece of female flesh he could get his hands on behind her back. By the time the weather had heated, Candra had cooled and gotten tired of Philip, putting the whole thing down to a behavioral anomaly.

Candra had gotten off lightly. Father Patrick had caught Ivy kissing one of Philip’s friends against the outside wall of the college. According to what Ivy told Candra, it was impromptu and innocent, but it had smeared Ivy with a bad reputation. As far as Candra knew, it had been Ivy’s very first kiss. Ivy’s parents had gotten a phone call from Father Patrick to tell them how their daughter had brought the school into disrepute because she was still wearing her uniform at the time. Candra remembered that Philip found the whole situation highly amusing. It was another incident in the list of reasons she had no interest in talking to him right now.

Philip slid the palm of his clammy hand over Candra’s bare shoulder and pushed her back against the wall. He didn’t use force, but it was accidentally hard enough to wind her a little. “What’s the rush?” He slurred a bit.

She shrugged her shoulder forward. “You’re drunk,” Candra accused, “and I told you, months ago, what we were doing is over.”

“Why?” He smirked as he played with a lock of her hair, twisting his finger through it slowly and staring at her passionately…or attempting to focus. She wasn’t sure which.

“Okay, let’s just see, shall we?” Candra spat, crossing her arms over her chest and instantly releasing them by her side again when his drunken, lusty gaze dropped to the cleavage her action had managed to create from her modest breasts. “We had nothing in common, you told your friends every last detail of everything that went on between us, you cheated…repeatedly, and you’re an idiot. Pick one.”

“Come on, you can’t say we had nothing in common,” he teased, raising an eyebrow and apparently choosing to ignore the rest of her reasoning.

Philip’s finger loosened from her hair, but instead of moving back, he ran it haphazardly across her exposed collarbone. Candra didn’t budge; there was no need. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t touched her there before, or other more intimate places. She knew he was only testing the water to see how far he could push her. From experience she knew he wanted to see her react, but she had no intention of showing him any response at all. She kept her expression neutral. Her fingertips pressed into the flocked wall-covering behind her. Candra kept her attention on the feeling of her palms flattening against the wall, refusing to think about how close Philip’s lower body was to hers.

There were people all around them, but Candra supposed to anyone else they probably appeared just the same as most of the other couples acting inappropriately in company. Philip’s fingertip trailed lower over the mound of her breast. That was taking it too far, and she began to contemplate if a well-placed, hard slap would sober him up. She opened her hand by her side in readiness, but she was too late.

Before Candra got a chance to take a shot, another hand appeared from nowhere and lifted Philip’s away.

“I don’t think you want to do that.”

Her eyes darted to a tall muscular guy she didn’t recognize, standing almost between her and Philip. She was sure if she had seen him before she would have remembered.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Philip gasped, his eyes widened in shock. “This is my party.”

The guy lowered his face calmly so he was level with Philip, still retaining his grip, and looked directly into his eyes. “Which is precisely why you should show some respect to your guests. Like I said, I don’t think you want to do that.” His tone was menacing in its calmness, without any trace of attitude. His long-sleeved T-shirt was bunched to his elbows, and Candra couldn’t help watching the veins pop and the lines of his tensed muscle on his forearm as his grip intensified on Philip’s hand.

“I don’t want to do that,” Philip repeated after him like a puppet.

The guy smiled casually, making his navy-colored eyes crease a little at the corners. “You’re drunk, Philip. Maybe you just need to crash for a bit?”

Much to Candra’s surprise, when he eventually released Philip’s arm, Philip slapped the top of the guy’s arm like there were old friends, despite the fact that Candra felt as if she could have cut through the eerie tension hanging in the air between the three of them with a dull knife. They could have been friends, she reasoned. It wasn’t like Philip made a point of introducing any of his friends to her, but she was sure she still would have seen him around somewhere.

“Yeah, I probably do need a time out,” Philip agreed stupidly and then turned back to Candra. “Hey, I’m sorry, Candra. You know I didn’t mean any harm.”

“Eh, yeah.” She snickered. His sudden change of demeanor from drunken-demented-wolf to kid-caught-with-his-hand-in-the-cookie-jar was incredibly bizarre. “Just messing around, right?”

“Right,” he determined with a nod of his head, not picking up on her sarcasm at all before he backed off and went off on his merry way.

Candra straightened out her hair and did a quick inventory to check that all her clothes were still in place.

“You don’t have to thank me.” The guy grinned smugly as if he was Lancelot and he’d just rescued Guinevere from a ragging army of barbarians, instead of Candra from a sleazy ex.

“I wasn’t going to,” she shot back confidently. “I was handling it perfectly well by myself, thanks”

“Well, you’re welcome, and it didn’t look that way to me.” He crossed his arms and followed his remark with a deep chuckle she could barely hear over the music that had just gone up a notch in volume.

She knew she was being rude. It wasn’t this guy’s fault that Philip could be a pain in the ass; he was probably born that way, or it was some shot they issued to guys in secret once they reached puberty.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I know you were trying to help.”

“Rough day?” He smiled. “And you weren’t being rude.” He was so sincere that it was totally disarming, and she couldn’t rip her eyes away as she watched him pull up his sleeves that had come down, revealing even more of his deeply tanned forearms. “I like it when a girl can take care of herself.”

Candra nodded and gulped, mouthing a hello to a girl from school that passed by checking out his ass. She wanted to ask if the girl had seen Ivy but couldn’t bring herself to leave her new friend in the middle of a conversation, if that was what they were having.

“I’m Daniel,” he said loudly, bringing his face momentarily near her ear and she secretly thanked the DJ when Daniel’s hot breath hit her neck.

When he stepped back, his lips pulled in a delicious lopsided grin. His eyes were the most unusual color: a deep, penetrating midnight blue, framed in the longest jet black lashes she’d ever seen. Candra had the sudden urge to brush away a clump of his straight black hair that fell across them. As if on cue, he flicked his head and then combed it away with fingers.

“Candra,” she called back in a voice that was surprising raspy.

He placed his hand out to shake hers in a very formal gesture. Worried that she had already been rude once, she took it. His skin was warm. It wasn’t soft, but it wasn’t rough either, and she couldn’t help liking the way it felt against hers.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Candra. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Eh, yeah,” Candra stammered. She didn’t actually want him to go anywhere, or at the very least, she wouldn’t have minded an invitation to go along with him.

It was absurdly endearing the way his mouth was slightly uneven when he smiled, revealing a perfect set of Hollywood-white teeth. Candra found herself toying with the idea of asking him if he wanted to have a drink, a dance…or to be the father of her children.

He started to lift her hand, stroking the back of it with a featherlight touch of his fingers and at the same time lowering his face a little. He was going to kiss her hand—did people even do that anymore? One of his hands held hers while the fingers of his other hand explored her skin, tracing the lines of the small veins and making the tiny hairs rise and her body shiver. She didn’t try to pull away; she simply watched him. It was like he was fascinated, as if he had never touched someone before that moment.

He turned Candra’s hand so it was palm up, running the very tip of his nose back and forth across her wrist, and inhaled. She was frozen and utterly dumfounded by the excitement rocketing through her body. Her heart thundered, drowning out the sound of the base vibrating through the room. She was mortified to realize she couldn’t remember what perfume she was wearing or if she was wearing any at all. She was even more mortified to realize she liked what he was doing. It was sensual in a way she had never experienced before, and it was making every nerve ending in her body come alive with the anticipation of where he would touch her next.

Without lifting his head, he looked up to Candra through mesmerizing black eyelashes. “You know, some believe that when you save someone’s life you are responsible for that life, that something much greater than both of you binds you together forever.” His breath caressed her skin with each word.

Candra sucked in a shaky breath. “You didn’t exactly save my life.”

He smiled the same half-smirk again before letting her hand go and standing straight. “Details.” He grinned.

Candra returned his smile tentatively; her stomach was doing triple somersaults.

“I think I will call you ‘my Candra’ from now on.”

Then she laughed, making his grin grow wider, which only made him more handsome. He seemed to like it when she laughed.

“You know that’s kind of on the very razor’s edge of cute and creepy?” Candra joked.

The smile abruptly dropped from his face, and his eyes moved around the room as if he was looking for something. Candra looked around too, seeing nothing but teenagers with raging hormones and too much alcohol.

“I’ll see you soon, my Candra,” he said without looking back to her and leaving her disappointed.

Candra watched him longingly as he disappeared into the crowd before shaking her head vigorously.

Damn it, Candra, what the hell is wrong with you? Now was completely the wrong time for meeting a new guy. She had enough going on in her life as it was.

She did another circuit of the party, looking for Ivy, and twenty minutes later she still hadn’t found her. Ivy wasn’t answering her phone, but Candra guessed she couldn’t hear it.

“Perfect.” Candra closed her phone with a snap. The idea of being at a party had lost its shine. She decided it was time to leave and started toward the door until she spotted something over the heads of the people dancing. The sight of the fiery head of hair made her gag.

She immediately ducked behind four guys by the wall and had to politely decline the offer of a suspicious looking roll-up. After a moment or two, she started to move sideways, keeping her eyes on Flame-hair’s head bobbing through the crowd with ease.

Candra was momentarily distracted when she came to a couple shamelessly groping at each other by the side of a cabinet, behind a table where all the other furniture had been moved to the side of the foyer. She had two choices: she could squeeze by them—they didn’t look like they’d be easily disturbed, but she still didn’t relish the idea. Her other choice was to skirt around the front of the table and the edge of the dance floor nearer to Ananchel. Candra took another look at the couple; the young girl had begun to thrust her hips against the boy.

Candra looked around again to see all the couples gyrating on the dance floor, and it dawned on her that she should have noticed something before. It was Ananchel; she was doing something to the entire party. Everyone, including Candra, was over-heated. She grimaced and turned, eager to get out of there, and walked straight into Ananchel moving toward her. In the brief moment Candra had looked away, she had obviously spotted her. There was something different about Ananchel as she closed the distance between them: she didn’t look ominous, the way she normally did. She looked…friendly, or at least what Candra presumed passed as friendly for someone like Ananchel. She wasn’t convinced someone with the power Ananchel had over others could ever be trusted to be merely friendly.

Candra was caught between the idea of running and curiosity about what had brought about this change in Ananchel. Regardless, her legs didn’t want to move. She looked around wildly, pretending she didn’t see Ananchel even though she was almost on top of her, all the time willing her limbs to cooperate in the most prudent action…getting her the hell out of there. By the time Candra’s legs decided to reconnect with her brain, it was too late, and Flame-hair had stepped in her path.

“Ananchel.” Candra plastered the most sincere fake smile she could muster on her face. “I didn’t see you there.”

“No matter.” Ananchel shrugged and flicked her long hair over her shoulder with one liquid movement of her hand, an unsuspecting college guy dancing behind her swooned a little catching her scent.

“What a coincidence, running into each other again so soon.” Candra’s stomach clenched, and she remembered that she hadn’t eaten since picking at a salad at lunch.

Ananchel sighed and lifted her hand to examine her blood red nails. For some reason, Candra imagined they were talons on the end of her elegant fingers, but they weren’t. Her nails were short and squared off, perfectly en vogue with current trends.

“Not really,” Ananchel breathed. Candra could hear her even though she didn’t strain to lift her voice above the din of the music.

Ananchel dropped her hand again and turned her dark eyes on Candra. “You see, I followed you here.”

Candra’s initial reaction was to wonder if she should scream or cry. She inhaled deeply and felt her heart start to pound like a base drum. She was a deer caught in the headlights with nowhere to run.

“Oh, relax,” Ananchel laughed. “I have been told to refrain from interfering with you.” Her expression was lighthearted but Candra could still clearly see the underlying traces of smugness and suspected Flame-hair enjoyed seeing her squirm.

Candra steeled her body just in case and tried her hardest to breathe normally. She desperately wanted to gasp in air, but she wasn’t willing to let Ananchel see her do it. The air was hot with smoke and the smell of liquor, yet Philip had never once gotten busted the whole time she knew him. Parties are getting busted all over the city for drugs and underage drinking. Why can’t I have luck like Philip? What is wrong with me? Candra mused. She couldn’t seem to keep her mind on a single train of thought for any length of time.

“What is it you want, then?” Candra forced out through a tight throat.

“I’ve been sent to offer you an invitation.”

“A what?” Candra was sure she must have misheard.

“An invitation, Candra, to our home.”

“Why?” Candra enquired, baffled. She hadn’t managed to gather much information, but from what she did have, there was no love lost between the ones guarding her and Ananchel.

Ananchel rolled her eyes knowingly and looked past Candra to the second floor balcony over where they stood. “Surely you want to hear both sides, Candra? I can’t imagine a bright girl like you would take the word of a Nuhra as the whole truth without question.”

Nuhra, Candra repeated the word she didn’t recognize in her head, presuming Ananchel had to be referring to Brie or Sebastian; maybe all of those who claimed to protect her. Angels really did exist, but from what she was learning they didn’t all get along—they had chosen sides, but why? She got a sense she was being manipulated, both sides using her ignorance against her. And by ignorance she meant that she didn’t even understand what Ananchel had just said. It could be a trick, or was Ananchel really offering her all the answers the others were withholding? Candra eyed her suspiciously.

“Why would you want to help me? I thought we were like enemies or something?”

To her surprise, Ananchel blinked twice before her perfectly groomed eyebrows drew down in a scowl. Candra braced herself for whatever onslaught Ananchel was about to throw against her. She couldn’t stop Ananchel, but maybe if she was ready for it, if she was prepared, she could limit how much she showed it affected her. But instead, Ananchel laughed a high-pitched cackle.

Candra unconsciously took a step back when she saw a blur of black and red fluttering out from Ananchel’s bare back for an instant before it vanished.

The moment Sebastian was inside the door, he knew there was something wrong. Candra was talking to Ananchel, but she was too relaxed. There was no fear in her expression. She looked perfectly at ease discussing something he couldn’t hear, and he didn’t like it.

When Gabe had called to say Candra was missing, it didn’t take long to figure out where she had gone. Sebastian had overheard Ivy telling Candra about the party, and Lofi had already reported any and all student gossip she’d heard during the day—that included word about a party at a guy named Philip’s house, Philip being the guy Candra had seemed close to for a while after Sebastian finally managed to track Ambriel down.

Lofi wasn’t far behind, but he wasn’t about to just stand there and wait again. Candra had no idea how far Ananchel would go to get something she wanted or what she considered entertainment. It wasn’t a conscious decision: one moment he was watching them from the doorway, and in the next instant he was standing in front of Candra, blocking her from Ananchel. His hands reached behind him and anchored on her hips to push her back another step from Ananchel.

“Sebastian, I always knew you couldn’t be trusted, but this…” Ananchel ranted, raving a hand in Candra’s direction. “This is beyond you.”

The palms of Candra’s hands were pressed flat against Sebastian’s back as she tried to look past him to Ananchel. His chest heaved, and adrenaline raced through all his extremities. Gauging from Candra’s previous reactions to him showing up out of nowhere, he wagered that she wouldn’t be happy about his uninvited appearance at the party. Her heart pumped out an uneven rhythm so strongly he could feel it vibrate against his back, and at first he thought he imagined it when her fingers grazed timidly over the place where the bone thickened to support his wings. Then he felt the touch of her damp palm grow more insistent through the black cotton of his button down shirt and wondered if she was comparing his back to the roughness of Brie’s, where her wings had been snapped away. He couldn’t think about it now, so instead he glared defiantly at Ananchel who was ranting something preposterous about him being the one who hid Candra.

“She is ours.” It was all he could think of to say. Still, he had to beat down the thrill it gave him to claim her out loud. He knew Candra wouldn’t appreciate being claimed.

Well, she would just have to get used to it, he thought, and as if in confirmation, Candra’s hands twitched against his skin.

Ananchel cocked an eyebrow, and Sebastian suddenly felt irrationally vulnerable against her—although it wasn’t that irrational. Ananchel could bring stronger men than him to their knees if she felt inclined to do so.

“She is not a toy,” she hissed like a cat arching its back and instinctively unfurled her jet black wings tipped with scarlet, resembling an oil slick creeping outward in a pool of blood.

Sebastian felt Candra’s weight against him increase when she leaned forward to look over his shoulder. There was no longer merely a shadow of Ananchel’s wings. Candra’s warm breath made the hairs on his neck rise when she gasped at the sight of Ananchel’s magnificent, dark, silken plumage brushing against the unsuspecting dancers around her.

Sebastian knew Ananchel’s words were for Candra’s benefit. If it was to her advantage, Ananchel would be just as willing to claim Candra as he was.

“This isn’t the time or the place for this discussion,” Sebastian told her pointedly.

“Excuse me,” Candra screeched from behind him, once again pushing to get past.

He heard her utter a small gasp and felt her breath against the back of his neck when all the air left her lungs. Just like everything he seemed to do lately, uncurling his wings wasn’t intentional. His only thought was to keep Ananchel away from Candra. As soon as his mind thought the word barrier, there they were. He was sure Ananchel could see his weakness; his desire to protect Candra at any cost to himself was perfectly apparent. He turned his head to catch a glimpse of the girl behind him, and her shocked eyes stared back at him. Her mouth was hidden behind her two hands.

“Go!” Sebastian bellowed fiercely to Ananchel without fully turning from Candra, his nails digging into the palms of his clenched fists.

“You go,” Ananchel laughed in return, apparently amused by Candra’s reaction.

When his eyes met Ananchel’s again, he confirmed by the way her smile faded infinitesimally that he had exposed himself. She had forced him to prove to Candra once again that he wasn’t human, not even in the smallest measure. He should have known she wouldn’t stop there. They had played this game a long time.

The trembling began in his stomach, shooting downward like tiny electrical pulses, and his already tense muscles tightened further. All over his body, his skin felt like it was on fire, and it made him shudder. He fought it, closing his eyes to keep from looking at Ananchel and keeping Candra out of his peripheral vision. He couldn’t look at Candra now. The volume of the music seemed to grow until the bass was an eruption inside his brain and every thump matched his heart. His stomach pulled in on itself as wave after wave of trembling heat washed over him, making his body go weak. It made him want to give in and beg her to finish him. He wanted to lose himself in the familiar feeling, fall at her feet, and beg for mercy. But he couldn’t—it would leave Candra defenseless. Sebastian continued to fight the delicious chills racing up and down his spine and tried to keep his mind away from the growing hardness of his body. He felt himself spinning.

Candra’s voice came from far away, frantically calling to him and pleading with him to answer her. Ananchel laughed, and then, without warning, it stopped. Small hands locked around his upper arms, shaking him.

“Sebastian,” Candra called again and again, trying to break through.

Then her hands were gone, and he felt something soft brush across his face. It smelled like tangy, fresh green apples. He inhaled deeply, concentrating on the fragrance to bring him back from the brink.

“That’s enough!” Candra shouted.

Sebastian could feel her body in front of him and her back flush against his chest.

“You should get out of here now, Ananchel. I will think about your offer, but you need to leave now.” Candra’s voice was strong and determined; her conviction was indisputable. She expected no argument.

Payne’s child, Sebastian thought to himself as he fought the gravity that was making his body sway. There was no argument.

“Very well,” Ananchel agreed, surprising and worrying him at the same time. “I will be in touch when you’ve had a chance to think about our invitation.”

Invitation. No. He couldn’t make the words come out, and he opened his eyes a little, only to feel them instantly roll back in his head and close. His hands found Candra’s hips again, as if he needed to confirm she was real and that she was really putting herself between him and Ananchel. His thumb brushed over her hipbone where her soft skin met the band of her jeans. He forced his eyes open to see Ananchel scrutinizing him.

“I see.” She smirked wickedly.

He felt Candra’s body brace under his hands, and a warm jolt shot over his skin through his fingertips.

“This is lovely, Sebastian…quite unexpected.” The sleek, red-tipped feathers of Ananchel’s wings reflected the lights over the dance floor back into his eyes. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to focus.

Her wings quivered and folded behind her. Since humans couldn’t see an angel’s wings, it was only an invisible barrier that kept them from getting nearer than a mere brush away once they were exposed. Some of the humans around her instantly moved nearer.

“Just go,” Candra demanded, her voice rising with frustration. “Before I change my mind and make you.”

“Make me?” Ananchel parroted with a strange, disturbed expression on her face.

What in the Arch’s name does she think she’s doing? Sebastian thought. He couldn’t make himself react or do anything at all. Simply standing was draining him of all his energy.

“And tell whoever sent you that Sebastian is off limits to you and everyone else from now on. Do you understand, or should I write it down for you?”

Ananchel shrugged and took a step nearer to them. “This is a strange twist—or a little twisted…I’m not sure.” She tilted her head to the side narrowing her eyes. “I wonder what Payne would make of it?”

Sebastian made to step forward, incensed by the mention of Payne’s name from Ananchel’s lips, but was halted by Candra, who gently laid her hand over his, bringing him back to his senses.

“Go!” she repeated insistently to Ananchel.

With one last glance, Ananchel turned from them, her folded wings fading in a rippling light along her back before they disappeared.

Sebastian followed her with his gaze until she reached the door, where he spotted Lofi. Ananchel stopped for some exchange he couldn’t hear, and if he was honest with himself—which he rarely was these days—he didn’t care about. He let out a deep, grievous sigh as the full extent of his humiliation began to dawn on him.

Candra was still in front of him, close enough that he knew there was no way she could fail to notice. He reached a new level of contempt for himself, but for some reason he still hadn’t let her go. It was as if the jolt of electricity he felt had glued them together. No amount of reasoning with himself that this was wrong, that it was verging on sick to take advantage of her innocence, that he was worse than the lowest form of life, could make him pull away.

The music slowed. Ananchel was gone, and Lofi was making her way toward them. She knew: the look of pity in her eyes told him as much. Yet he didn’t break his fingers away from where they’d settled on Candra’s body.

Eventually she did it herself. Her hands, that had so lightly covered his, slipped under his fingers and pulled them away enough that she could move her body out of his grasp.

Sebastian closed his eyes again, not wanting to see the disgust he was sure would be evident in Candra’s expression. He’d made such a mess of things since he’d found Brie, and he’d done nothing but make wrong decisions since. He finally managed to flinch his hands away from hers. His scowl was uncomfortable, and the back of his neck ached from the rigidity of his shoulders. At least the effects of Ananchel’s encounter were beginning to wane. The once enjoyable physical reaction she could elicit from his body now made him sick to his stomach, although she still thought of it as a game. She would chase; he would give in.

“Move,” Sebastian demanded out loud to his shaky legs through gritted teeth. “Move, damn you.”

He winced when the warmth of two soft hands came up to wrap around the back of his neck, and he was overcome by the sweet fragrance of green apples. She wasn’t moving away. Candra had turned around to him, and unbelievably she was holding him. The slim fingers of one of her hands tugged at his neck, bringing his head nearer, and not really having the energy or the will to refuse her, he complied. Beyond the shock of her actions, he simply didn’t want to refuse her.

Her heated body trembled against Sebastian, and her breath grazed his ear as she spoke.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, barely audible above the music.

Why would she think she needed to be sorry for anything? She didn’t start the war. She hadn’t killed anyone. None of this was her fault. The sound he made was alien to him, a long drawn out groan that started somewhere deep inside him.

But it only made Candra pull herself closer to him until she was holding him so tightly she must have been using every ounce of her strength.

Sebastian did something he considered utterly unforgivable. Of all the things he had done in his entire existence, this was surely the worst. He buried his face in Candra’s hair, leaning into the crook of her neck and wound his arms around her, crushing her to him with such force that she gasped.

Chapter Six

Candra let him hold her, supporting most of his body weight and hugging him back tightly, trying not to think about the evidence of his excitement and the tension in the muscles of his neck. She remembered reading somewhere that the best thing to do if someone was overstimulated or emotionally overwrought was to hold them. It was obvious of course, but there was also some physical reasoning behind it too. It was something to do with nerve endings being compressed.

She was shaking and not feeling nearly as brave as she wanted Ananchel to believe moments ago. The slow rhythm of the music was calming, and she tried her best to match her heartbeat to it. Taking slow, deep breaths was proving difficult, since Sebastian wasn’t leaving much room between them for her lungs to expand. She was sure there would be bruising tomorrow where his fingers pushed into her hips.

She didn’t know what else she could have done. The guy had been coming apart right in front of her eyes, right in front of a roomful of people. He was crumbling and about to fall at Ananchel’s feet. She’d had to do something. Even through her fear when she was ordering Ananchel to leave, she could still feel him shattering behind her, and she was sure now Lofi wasn’t exaggerating; Ananchel didn’t hold back with Sebastian. He’d tried to protect her from Ananchel regardless.

Candra thought she knew what Ananchel was about: it wasn’t the lust or the searing heat she could create inside you or how she could make you feel your body was turning inside out. It was about the surrender to something more powerful than yourself. Ananchel used it to take control. She used it to make anyone who stood against her submissive. It was the cruelest use of power Candra had ever seen inflicted, and it was torture to see it done to Sebastian.

His breathing slowed, and gradually Sebastian began to support more and more of his own weight. As he slowly shifted, she had an almost overwhelming compulsion to touch his wings before they disappeared again. One hand moved as if against her will and eased down his neck and over his upper back until her fingers brushed over soft feathers. They felt so real. She didn’t know what she expected, but apparently it wasn’t that. She guessed she thought they were some kind of apparition, that they were visible at times but not real in a corporal sense. Candra gripped his neck with one hand, feeling when the tendons tightened in his throat as he swallowed, unsure if he was aware of her explorations or not.

The fingers of her other hand tentatively stroked the plush down at the joint where his wing broke through his shirt. It was the softest thing she had ever touched, like liquid satin under her fingertips. She could feel where it met his skin through the small slit, its flesh and down over bone coming from an elongated skeletal structure beneath his shoulder blade. Well, as much as she could tell without full-on groping him. It wasn’t a human structure, but it wasn’t bird either, and she wanted nothing more in that moment than to explore its length. But she didn’t.

Taking advantage of him now would make her no better than Ananchel. She moved her fingers back up and into the soft golden waves of his hair. It wasn’t as soft as the feathers, but clearly its silken strands weren’t a human boy’s. Standing in the room full of teenagers with him, it was bluntly apparent to Candra that Sebastian wasn’t human, and if she could see it, then neither was she.

Finally his arms began to loosen a little, enough that Candra could breathe easier, but he didn’t pull away. He let her go only when his wings eventually faded away.

Candra noticed Lofi standing over by the stairs where she had spoken to Philip and Daniel. She didn’t look out of place at all, apart from an invisible barrier she seemed to have in place around her that repelled any of the guys walking past. They didn’t appear to be bothered by it in the slightest; they simply smiled at her and continued on their way. Candra offered her a strained smile, sure that Lofi understood what she had missed. When she turned her attention back to Sebastian, he refused to make eye contact; instead, his eyes scanned the room, apparently searching for any further threat.

“I need a drink,” he stated flatly without looking at her, before he turned and walked away.

Candra spotted the two holes in the back of his shirt where his wings had protruded and the patches of smooth tanned skin under them as he moved. She hadn’t figured out how they worked yet. Where did they go? Did they hurt? And the practicality of them—could Sebastian and the others fly? For a brief second, another question flashed through her mind. It occurred to her, as bizarre as it might be, she was at least a little like them—so where were her wings?

Candra scurried after him as he bolted through the room, barely sparing a glance in Lofi’s direction and heading straight toward the kitchen. Several buckets filled with ice and bottles of beer were interspersed between the kegs and partygoers scattered around the large room. It was modern and impersonal with a large marble-topped center island and white cabinets, not a family kitchen in the slightest.

Ignoring the small group of guys chugging beer directly from a line attached to a keg, Sebastian pulled a beer out of one of the coolers and tossed the still wet bottle to Lofi, who caught it easily.

“Beer?” he offered Candra, holding up a second bottle acquired from the same cooler.

“Underage,” she replied, pointing to herself despite the fact he still hadn’t looked at her.

The proffered beer remained in this outstretched hand, so she took it. It wasn’t as if it was her first beer; she simply didn’t expect angels to encourage underage drinking. Surely they were supposed to at least be law abiding or something. Sebastian grabbed a bottle for himself, opened it, drained it, and started on another before Candra had twisted the cap off hers.

Lofi watched him warily and took a sip from her beer. Candra followed suit and grimaced as the bitter foamy liquid slid down her throat. It was freezing. Even with the music still blaring and the noise and chatter from the other people in the room, the atmosphere between the three of them was deathly quiet. Candra continued to sip her beer, more for something to do than because she liked it.

“There you are!” Ivy bounced in the doorway, smiling brightly.

“Jeez, where have you been? I’ve been looking all over the place for you,” Candra told her, glad at least that her presence would break the stalemate.

“I met a guy.” She leaned in closer, placing one hand on Lofi’s shoulder as if she was about to reveal a great big secret. “He was so hot.”

“Nice,” Candra mumbled, sneaking a peek at Sebastian who was twisting the lid off his third beer. Could angels get drunk?

“He’s so much hotter than your guy,” Ivy teased excitedly, totally oblivious to the mood around her and Lofi’s wide-eyed glare at her remark. She didn’t even notice that neither Lofi nor Sebastian had acknowledged her with a greeting.

“I need to go,” Sebastian announced, keeping his eyes on the bottles he was lining up on the counter beside him.

“Good idea,” Lofi agreed. “We’ll all go.”

Candra caught Ivy’s curious expression when Sebastian turned a little, placing his forth bottle, amazingly only half empty, on the counter. Ivy’s smile remained fixed, but her eyes narrowed and darted to Candra and then back to him.

“No,” Sebastian answered directly to Lofi. “I just need…I’ll see you at home later.”

Candra didn’t know what she had done wrong, or how she had misjudged his reaction to her yet again. He was so angry. Not outwardly. It was more of a simmering anger, as if he was smoldering just under the surface and could explode from the tiniest ignition. After Lofi nodded curtly, he left without saying goodbye or the vaguest glance in Candra’s direction.

She immediately flushed. He held me back, she thought. It wasn’t just me. Why was he being an ass? She tried to tell herself he was embarrassed. She was tempted to wish she had walked away and left him stranding there alone, evidently pitching a tent and about to drop to his knees. Of course then she mentally slapped herself for considering it. Since, after all, he was only there trying to help her.

“What’s his problem?” Ivy asked, helping herself to the beer in Candra’s hand.

“Believe me, you don’t want to know,” Lofi responded, followed by a short sigh.

Candra didn’t miss the way Lofi’s eyes flickered to her with a flash of golden shimmer. It felt like an accusation, and Candra resented it thoroughly. Sebastian and Lofi had followed her, not the other way around.

“He’s so…different,” Ivy observed, and Candra couldn’t help smiling.

“You have no idea,” she deadpanned and took the beer back out of Ivy’s hand, turning to Lofi. “You and me have to talk. Now.”

Lofi looked around her hesitantly, as if someone would appear out of midair and give her an excuse to not talk to Candra.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave?” Ivy groaned uncomfortably.

“I’m sorry, Ivy. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Ivy’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “You remember what I said to you earlier, right?”

“I remember.” Candra nodded.

Ivy smiled and cast a disgruntled look in Lofi’s direction as she left.

Candra faced up to Lofi and kept her voice low and controlled. “One way or another, I’m getting answers tonight, and I really don’t think you’ll like the other way.”

She could see Lofi weighing the pros and cons, so she gave her a few moments to think about it.

“Fine,” she conceded, shaking her head as if she was disagreeing with her own decision. “Let’s take a walk.”

“I don’t know if we were truly happy, or if we simply didn’t know any better. It was a thousand lifetimes ago.”

They were walking through the city, Lofi had said toward home. Candra presumed she meant toward Lofi’s home since they were walking in the opposite direction of hers.

The city was alive as traffic fought for dominance on the streets, and people buzzed past them on the pavement, going about their business. In the distance, sirens wailed and jazz music pumped from a nearby club somewhere. It teemed with life, but Candra felt totally disconnected from it. She wasn’t part of it anymore; she wasn’t sure where she belonged now.

“What we remember from before is extremely vague. There was only us for the longest time, and then we simply weren’t alone any longer. We became Grigori—the Watchers. We looked down on the earth as humans lived their lives. Being born, growing, falling in love, having children—their souls were so beautiful to us. It’s more a feeling than a memory, but if I can describe it, life was like listening to the most beautiful music. It moved us, and we wanted to be a part of it.

“Anyway, some grew jealous. We coveted human life. Beyond anything, we wanted to have what they had. We wanted to experience life and death as one of them, but it was forbidden. This life wasn’t created for us. However not all of us could accept that. Some took human form and lived among humans…they took human mates.” She stopped talking and continued to walk in silence.

Candra turned her head slightly to see Lofi’s brow crinkle.

“It doesn’t sound like such a bad story,” she encouraged, keeping Lofi talking.

Lofi took a deep breath before she continued. “There was a covenant among Grigori to protect human life. The half-breed offspring were born abominations. They were born without souls, and in their wake, they brought plague, starvation when crops failed, pain and suffering for humanity…but they were loved and desperately wanted by their Watcher parents. For over a century, more were born and grew to adulthood. Their parents held out hope that they would change, but without souls, they never would.

“After a time, more Watchers came, except these brought wrath down on the Nephilim…the young ones. Their intent was the destruction of every last one of the creatures, some of whom were massacred while still swaddled infants.” She paused again, apparently recalling a painful memory. “A blood war ensued. Both sides lost so many…the parents of the Nephilim fought to save them as any parent would, but in the end, they failed. Many chose to die with their offspring. Many have died since or simply have given up living.”

They rounded a corner to a wealthy residential street similar to the one Phillip lived on. Candra looked around, but recognized nothing. She had been listening so raptly that she paid no attention to where they were walking.

“So they all died, the Nephilim?” Candra asked, feeling the words hurt. To know that so many like her had died, a whole generation…to think about it in anything more than abstract was just too much to take in.

Lofi halted and turned to face Candra directly. “Yes, every single last one of them perished.”

“Why didn’t the Watchers return to where they came from?”

“Because even Heaven has rules.” Lofi laughed, but her underlying grief was unmistakable. “The first Watchers who came here coveted; they sought to possess something they could never truly have. The ones who came after did so voluntarily to protect humanity, but in the process, they spilled so much blood—thou shalt not kill. So, in the end none of us were saved. We were all forsaken.”

“That’s…” Candra started, but then couldn’t find the words to express how it made her feel to know what they had been keeping from her. Part of her wished she could take it back, and part of her wanted to cry. Everyone like her was dead. Everyone like her was a soulless monster. “But you found a way. I mean, I am here, right? So you had to have found a way.”

Candra lifted her eyes to the sky and shook her head. A sharp intake of breath stabbed at the back of her throat, and she stopped dead. There were figures scattered along the rooftops, perched and watching them. At first, in the darkness, she thought they were part of the buildings, some sort of elaborate gargoyles above the entablature. But then they moved. She couldn’t make them out clearly, but she could see wings and their heads moving to follow them as they began to walk again.

Candra swallowed the bile that was rising from her stomach and couldn’t quite tear her eyes away from the figures balanced serenely like giant eagles watching over their territory.

“Guards,” Lofi explained as their eyes glinted with a golden light. “They are positioned all over the city to look after humans.”

Candra gulped. “Guards? How come I’ve never seen them before?”

She felt Lofi’s hand at the base of her spine, urging her forward. “Well, they don’t always look like that, silly.”

Candra, brows pulled down, was still baffled. How could she have missed something like them?

Lofi rolled her eyes as if the answer was already obvious. Maybe it was to her, Candra thought, but she was still getting her head around all of this.

“There was protection in place over you, a blessing we call it. You might think of it as a sort of supernatural cloaking. You were hidden from us for eighteen years, and so we were also hidden from you for the most part. The protection began to fade in the last several months as you approached adulthood.”

“Because I just had my birthday?”

Lofi nodded with a faint smile and then continued. “We agreed to a new covenant to protect humans, and we are bound by it. Now, we watch over the city and help where we can. It’s what we were made to do. Police, teachers, doctors…”

Candra thought back to her doctor at the hospital, the way his eyes had gleamed and he’d bowed in acknowledgement to Brie.

“I think you’ve been sleeping on the job; the city isn’t exactly paradise,” she said caustically. “Every time you clap your hands, another person becomes a statistic.”

“Human nature,” Lofi sighed, pressing Candra’s back more firmly.

“I’m sorry?” Candra asked, wondering why it was she had to practically drag every single answer out.

“Free will, Candra. It can’t be overridden, even if it’s for your own good. We are tied by what we can do for mankind because of their refusal to accept help and by their refusal to listen. They make their own choices and their own mistakes, just as we did. We’re here.”

“Here, where?” Candra asked, looking up to the elegant brownstone. There were no gargoyles on the building as with all the other houses around. Instead there were two pillars at the top of the steps leading to a porch, and sitting atop each one was a large carved stone eagle. Neither bird’s wings were expanded; they sat calmly and coldly, perching, observing…guarding.

“Home,” Lofi responded, taking the stone steps two at a time—quite an achievement in three-inch heels.

Candra followed her up the steps hastily. “This is where you live?” The eyes of the eagles seemed to follow her as she approached, like they were warning her they were watching.

Lofi looked back to Candra with a playful smirk. “What were you expecting?” She was turning a key in the stained glass paneled door. It seemed like such a normal thing to do.

Candra scowled at herself for expecting passwords and magical doorways protected by cherubs. No cherubs, just the birds.

“So who lives here?”

“At the moment, just Sebastian, Gabe, and me. There are others that come and go sometimes. Very few keep a permanent residence this large, and those who do open their home for travelers or those wishing to remain in a place for any length of time until they can settle. Gabe and I have just returned to Acheron; we haven’t been here for many years. Sebastian returned several months ago.”

“Returned from where?”

“We were traveling,” she answered with a noncommittal shrug.

“How many of you are there?”

She smiled at Candra teasingly. “More than you may think.”

Candra studied her closely as they passed through the doorway that was in no way magical. “But not as many as there were?”

Lofi’s smile quickly faded, and she brushed a lock of her blond hair behind her ear as she tossed her key into an ancient looking bowl on a semicircle table against the wall. “No, not nearly as many of us as there once were.”

“What happens when one of you dies?” Candra asked inquisitively, thinking about her father.

Lofi looked down to the ground and forced out a heavy breath, darting her large doe eyes to Candra as if confirming she really wanted her to answer. Candra nodded intently, confirming she did.

“We are created, Candra, not born like you. You are a soul within a body; it’s different for you.”

“How?”

“When you die, your body releases your soul and you go on. We are a soul manifest. When we die, there is nothing to release. There is nowhere for us to go.”

An icy chill ran down Candra’s spine. It was all so finite, so absolute. “Are you sure about that? I mean, could you be wrong…you were wrong about ones like me, weren’t you?”

With that, Lofi smiled, her face lighting up, and a small blush rose across her cheeks. “There is always hope, Candra.”

They had entered a foyer that opened into a large living space. The area was lit dimly by frosted glass light fixtures that cast a delicate rose glow over the mostly antique furniture and dark paneled walls. Deep burgundy couches faced each other in front of a large, tiled hearth. A sideboard with curling clawed legs sat against the side wall and caught Candra’s eye because of the silver tray resting upon it, holding decanters of gold and amber liquid. Her tongue involuntarily peeked out to brush across her top lip as the liquid called to her. Purely for medicinal purposes, she told herself. She had been taking a lot of information in lately.

Lofi began to ascend the stairs leading up from the foyer and stopped a few steps up. Wrought iron and carved wood balustrades snaked upward to the second floor of the sweeping staircase, forming elaborate patterns of vines, which twisted and choked wilting flowers. Candra squinted, unsure she could believe her own eyes. Was she really seeing what she thought she was seeing? The design seemed almost macabre.

“It reminds us,” Lofi explained, watching Candra run her fingers over the flowers.

“Of what?”

“That we are different, that we shouldn’t get too close. The flowers are beautiful, but if we aren’t careful, we could destroy them,” she replied, touching the vine wrapped around the flower Candra was examining.

“What a sad visual.”

“I’m just going upstairs to my room so I can grab a pair of more comfortable shoes and check on Sebastian.”

Lofi turned away, but Candra thought her heart must have given a loud thud because Lofi turned back to look at her again. It suddenly hit her—Sebastian and Lofi were a couple, and Lofi had stood there and watched Candra with him. No wonder he acted so strangely afterward.

“Are you all right, Candra?” Lofi asked kindly.

“Huh?” Candra hated that she could never form the words she needed in her addled brain lately. “So you and Sebastian?”

Lofi watched Candra for a moment as if she was waiting for her to finish the sentence. Candra was beginning to blush before Lofi exclaimed.

“No. Oh, no way! Sebastian is like a brother to me, an annoying brother at that.” She laughed, rolling her eyes and turning back to trot up the stairs. She left Candra standing in the doorway between the living area and foyer, feeling relieved and back to wondering why he’d behaved the way he did at the party.

After a minute or so, Candra turned into the room with the intention of taking a seat and waiting for Lofi to come back down but was distracted by one of the many tall bookshelves that lined the walls. The thing that distracted her was that they were mainly filled with leather-bound photo albums, and she’d seen one just like them years ago in Brie’s bedroom.

Candra had gone through a phase where she’d liked to play dress up and would sneak into Brie’s room to rifle through the classically stylish pieces Brie preferred. Candra had dug through the old trunk at the end of her bed and had discarded the leather bound photo album onto Brie’s quilt. It had been the one and only time in Candra’s entire childhood that she remembered Brie raising her voice to her, and she hadn’t even opened it. She wasn’t allowed in Brie’s room to play again after that.

Candra listened to hear Lofi coming back, but the house was completely silent. Gingerly, she ran her finger across the leather spines and the gold writing that embossed each with a year. Someone liked to take photos, and she couldn’t help wondering which one of them it was.

It was some gross invasion of privacy to be coming into someone’s home and going through their private things. But, like Lofi said, this place was a kind of sanctuary for anyone who needed it and she was one of them, wasn’t she? Plus they hadn’t actually been holding back on invading her privacy. Before Candra had a chance to change her mind, she plucked a photo album from the shelf, choosing one labeled as just a few years before she was born, and went over to one of the couches to sit down. She listened again for any sound from upstairs before she carefully opened the cover.

It could have been anyone’s family album with two small differences: no embarrassing bare butt in the bath shots and all the subjects in the photos were almost inconceivably striking. They were all there: Brie, Sebastian, Gabe, Lofi, Candra’s father, and many others. Some were happy shots, some playful, some were posed. Every single one of them was a moment in time, a moment of the time they shared. Time, when it came to her father, that Candra missed out on. It was her father she missed now because she never knew her mother, although maybe if either of them had lived she would have known about this secret world going on around her much sooner. These images all occurred before her father had met her mother, before any of them knew about Candra. None of the perfect, happy faces staring out at her knew that in a few short years her father and Brie would be gone from them under different circumstances.

Candra looked down at her father’s handsome face. He was sitting on the front porch steps of a summerhouse she didn’t recognize and could have been anywhere. The grass at the base of the steps looked parched, and the wood that made up the porch steps had been bleached white over time by the sun. His jeans were rolled up over his ankles, and one arm was thrown around Brie’s shoulder. Brie’s hair was still long and loosely fixed in a braid with wispy strands blowing around her face and draping over her shoulder. Her face was scrunched up with distaste, and she pushed against his chest. His puckered up lips kissed Brie’s cheek, and his eyes fixed on the camera as if urging the photographer to act before the happy moment was lost.

She had cloudy recollections of being with her father in the park and tumbling, laughing, down hills. She remembered being carried to bed when she’d been sleepy and hadn’t wanted to walk and how he’d rocked her in his arms when she’d cried after she’d fallen and cut her elbow. While Candra traced her finger over the image of him smiling at the camera and his brown eyes that were so like her own, she remembered something else. His favorite food in the whole entire world had been green apples. She had the strongest memory suddenly of the tangy fresh scent. She wondered if the latent memory was the reason why her preferred scent for shampoo was apple and if she was subconsciously trying to keep him with her.

She had no memories of her mother at all. Her mother had been an only child and died in childbirth. Candra had seen pictures of her from when she was young, before her father. Her mother had been pretty, barely more than a girl, with long wavy hair that was the color of wet sand and a splattering of freckles across her nose. Candra felt no daughter-mother connection to her as such. Brie had been Candra’s mother from the day she entered her life. Except that Candra couldn’t recall that day. One minute Brie wasn’t there and the next she was.

Candra returned the album to the bookshelf. The house was still in silence, which was fitting since that’s all she seemed to be getting out of anyone lately anyway. She walked toward the stairs to listen for Lofi for the third time; she had been gone over fifteen minutes. Candra was sure the house was big, but couldn’t imagine it would take that length of time to locate Sebastian and some shoes. There wasn’t so much as a floor creaking or a pipe groaning inside the house, and it was spookily cut off from any sounds outside. Literally, the only sounds she could hear were those of her own breathing and her own movements.

She scanned the room again. Everything was so normal.

Why do they have to be so normal?

It would be so much easier for her to accept if this had been some magically protected gothic mansion. There were the wings, of course, but they were there and then gone. They weren’t tangible enough. Candra needed something to prove to herself this was more than the imaginings of a fragile mind. This could all be a dream that began the day she fell from the parking garage. She could be lying in a hospital somewhere, hooked up to machines with her drug-muddled brain concocting scenarios of angels.

Candra snickered out loud at the absurdity of her insane ramblings. She was actually conceding that being under a drug-induced coma in a hospital was an attractive alternative to her life.

She headed straight to the inviting amber liquor, poured a large measure, and knocked it back in one go, feeling the fiery wetness heat her throat and spread a familiar comforting warmth through her body. She poured a second and did the same.

Whatever they thought they were protecting her from—whatever this great danger was that her father hid her from—she was exposed to it now. The room felt suddenly claustrophobic. She didn’t know these people, these things. She was utterly alone in the world. On the whole planet there wasn’t another living creature like her. Candra was certain her life as she knew it before was over, and she had no idea what the future held for her. What if these Watchers were out there looking for her, and what if the ones looking over her couldn’t protect her? There were creatures out there that wanted her dead simply because she was born.

She was out the door running before she realized she had moved. The strange, human-shaped winged creatures—angels, she reminded herself—flapped their wings, probably at her refusal to do what she was told in staying with Lofi. She feared all she really was to them was a representation of the ones they had lost. She was being watched as she ran, always watched. She ran faster through the unfamiliar streets until she came to a junction brimming with the garish yellow light of car headlights and blue swishes of color as cabs raced up and down. She could still hear the flapping and the swooping of air from their powerful wings.

Everything was blurred and overexposed. The lights of the cars streaked past too fast for Candra to define anything clearly and then slowed almost as if they weren’t moving at all.

Candra’s heart thundered in her ears, and her lungs ached from the force of keeping her body supplied with oxygen. She spun around, confused, and rammed into an unsuspecting passerby. He caught her by her upper arms to steady her, but she flinched back, gasping as a streetlight reflected off his eyes like a cat. His eyes were blood red. She blinked, and it was gone, leaving the guy grimacing at her awkwardly before he moved away, most likely thinking she was some kind of nut job.

Candra hailed the first cab she could and jumped in, vaguely aware of the driver asking her something. She babbled off her address, panting, and rested her head back against the cool pleather of the seat.

It was only after she got home and closed her bedroom door, enveloping herself in the comfort of familiar surroundings, that she allowed the full-on breakdown to hit. Brie and Gabe were still downstairs speaking in hushed whispers, but neither had openly acknowledged her return. Salty tears streaked down her face as the fear and panic of the day finally exploded inside her, and she slid down the door, feeling the hard wood at her back, reminding her that this was reality. Candra ended up sitting at the door with her arms wrapped around her knees, hiding in the consoling darkness.

Strangely, it wasn’t the angel part that bothered her, that finding out something she never actually believed really existed. It was all the loss that bit into her soul—at least confirming to her that she had one, after all. It was the betrayal, lies, and the pain and heartbreak of all the years and all the ones who had only wanted humanity. Grief hit her like a tidal wave for the human life she wanted, but would never know. She was utterly alone.

Chapter Seven

Lofi knocked, but she didn’t wait for an answer; she rarely did. Instead, her head peeked around the door to check if it was safe to come in.

“Is this a pity party for one, or can anyone join in?”

Sebastian threw the ruined shirt he had just taken off at her, but she caught it easily and entered, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Lofi frowned sadly at the now ragged looking thing while holding it up in front of her.

“What did you do, rip it off?” She balled it up in her hands before firing it into the wastepaper basket by Sebastian’s desk.

He didn’t answer. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, but he knew that wouldn’t deter her, so he simply shrugged and went to the closet to retrieve a T-shirt.

“You know, you didn’t need to run off like that,” she admonished, shifting the pillows around on his unmade bed.

Normally, Sebastian was a lot more organized, but he had been distracted lately, and it showed. He usually kept his room in order; it was his refuge when he needed to get away from everything, and that was difficult to do in clutter. He tended to enjoy refined pieces of furniture that were simple and elegant but stood the test of time. Sebastian didn’t revel in change. His room contained the basics of a bed, a free standing closet, a chest of drawers, a lamp, a desk, a trunk, and a comfortable stuffed chair. It had been that way for almost the entire three hundred years they had owned this house—the chair and the lamp being the only addition. The walls were still adorned with the original stained wood paneling as was the floor. The last thing Sebastian wanted was anything complicated in his life.

He pulled the T-shirt over his head and tugged one of the pillows from her hand, throwing it back down. “Don’t do that. Don’t pick up after me. I can do it myself.”

“Are we still talking pillows?”

He raised an eyebrow at Lofi, challenging her to say out loud what he knew she was thinking: that he messed up…again.

“Oh, come on, Sebastian, what did you think was going to happen?”

“Well, actually, I didn’t think at all. Isn’t that nearer to the point you’re getting at?”

Still watching him with a stern glare, she sat down on the bed and removed her shoes, one by one.

“What was I meant to do? Just stand there and let Ananchel attack her?” Sebastian retorted sharply, running his hand through his hair, gripping it until he thought it would pull out from the root.

“Is that what this is about with you, what happened with Ananchel?” Lofi’s brow creased skeptically. “Come on, Sebastian, I know you a little better than that. Isn’t ‘attacked’ a little dramatic? It isn’t the first time she’s used her gift on you, and I know you’ve enjoyed it on more than one occasion.”

He dropped his hands and glowered at her, daring her to continue with her line of accusation. True, he had given into Ananchel. What man wouldn’t enjoy being relentlessly pursued by a woman who could have anyone she wanted? After Brie had left, he’d needed something that took him away and let him live in a moment, that didn’t require thinking, only doing and feeling. But he had left it behind long ago.

“Isn’t it more to do with what happened with Candra after Ananchel left?”

There she was again with that eyebrow of hers rising up and silently, telling him she already had all the answers. Well, that must be so nice for her because he felt like he was swimming in a sea of horseshit. He collapsed down heavily on the opposite side of the bed and scrubbed his hand roughly over his face.

“He’s going to want her,” Sebastian said plainly. It was part of the thing that had been eating him up inside. The more he watched Candra and the more he got to know her, the more intensely he knew it to be true. She was determined, beautiful, feisty, smart, and brave. She appreciated art and music. She was kind and had a bewildering capability for acceptance and forgiveness, yet she still retained a shadow of a wild streak inside her. Sebastian feared Draven would want her for all those reasons, and that wasn’t even his biggest fear.

“You knew that would happen, Sebastian. You knew when you found her what would happen.”

“I didn’t know I would find a Neph. I was only looking for Brie.”

“And you found something else instead,” she added, picking her shoes back up and dangling the straps from her index finger. “It’s time to be honest. I know that’s not the first shirt you’ve disposed of today.” Lofi nodded in the direction of the waste basket. “I saw your back after you came from the park. You haven’t been following Brie all this time; everyone knows it.”

“I expected Draven would come for her. I expected, from the first moment, that he would want her for himself, and I’ve been trying to protect her. I’ve been trying to keep her and Brie together,” he exclaimed defensively and stood up again.

“You expected Draven to want her. I’m sure what you didn’t expect is that you would want her too.”

“That’s crazy,” Sebastian shot back, but he somehow couldn’t manage to meet her eyes. He grabbed his jacket and pulled it on roughly with his back turned to her.

Lofi moved to the door, her bare feet skipping lightly across the floor. “Is it? I saw you with her tonight. Why don’t you keep lying to yourself and see how that works out for you?”

The door opened quietly, but she didn’t leave. Instead she hesitated, and when he turned back to her, she was biting her lower lip, clearly up to something. “I have to go. We did have a guest, but I presume I dallied with you so long that she’s already left.”

“You brought her here?”

“I thought it would be good for Candra to see what we are now, rather than judge us on what we were,” Lofi stated with a knowing smile.

Sebastian felt the panic rise from the pit of his stomach and twist like ropes around his chest. He knew that, in Candra’s eyes, he would go from obtrusive to reprehensible. “You told her!”

“Not everything. I’m thinking she’s probably about halfway home by now, but don’t worry. She’ll get there safely.”

“I have to go,” he barked out, snatching the door out of her grip to storm past.

“Yeah, you don’t want her at all,” Lofi called after him sardonically.

He was already at the bottom stair. He’d stayed away as long as he could. Separation was becoming problematic.

Candra cried until her eyes burned, her head hurt, and snot dripped from her nose. Great big, gut-wrenching sobs that forced her body into submission, until she was lying fetal, curled up on the floor. She guessed she must have passed out at some point, because she awoke still twisted up like a kitten seeking heat and comfort from herself. She groaned loudly at her first attempt to move when she unwrapped her arms from her knees. Every muscle and joint was stiff. It felt as if she had been pounded over and over with a massive weight; the ache stretched up her spine, shooting pain into her head like fine needles stabbing her behind her eyes. Every tiny movement was as if threadlike wires were slicing through her insides, especially in her brain. She rubbed her eyes brutally and leaned back against the door for support, waiting for her body to come back to life so she could stagger as far as the bathroom.

“I can help you with that.”

Candra’s hands wrenched away from her face, and she was sure her stomach jumped up into her arid mouth.

“What the…” She forced out the words while her eyes tried to adjust to the darkened room. For a moment, all she could see was dancing lights from rubbing her eyes too hard. “What are you, like, working on your psycho murderer impression?” With extreme trepidation, she pushed herself up from the floor. “Because, let me tell you, you do it well.”

Sebastian didn’t move from where he was sitting casually on the floor by the window. His knees were bent up to his chest, and the fingers of one hand held the other around his wrist lightly. He wasn’t looking at her.

Candra watched a small rounded crystalline stone slipping through his fingers. It caught the dim light coming in the window and sparkled like diamond dust. It hurt her eyes, and she had to look away.

“I said I can help you,” he repeated coolly.

“I don’t need your help,” Candra retorted sharply. She wished she could be a bigger person, but she was still hurting at how easily he’d dismissed her earlier. She was never one for holding grudges, but with Sebastian she had been repeatedly burned. He was complicated and infuriating. Yet she still harbored a deep craving to unravel his mysteries.

“Your mouth is saying no, but I can tell your body is aching,” he purred, and Candra snapped her head up to see him run his thumb in a circle over the small stone. He was smirking and biting his lip, working the stone with his long fingers. She didn’t know if he was being intentionally suggestive, or if she was still hot and bothered from earlier.

“I said I’m fine.” Candra’s voice was husky. She was sure it was from thirst, but she mentally kicked herself, knowing he would take it otherwise. She took out some pajamas and walked slowly toward the bathroom, holding her head high and leaving Sebastian sitting in darkness.

Hoping it would ease her apparent hangover, she turned on the shower and allowed the room to fill with swirling clouds of steam before she stepped under the heated spray and let it run over her skin, easing the knots in the back of her neck. Immediately she started to feel better, and she took longer than necessary washing her hair, giving the heat time to penetrate her tired muscles. When she finished, she dressed and splashed cold water on her reddened face to alleviate the lingering puffiness from crying.

If she expected him to be gone when she came out, she was disappointed. As always, Sebastian did the opposite of what she expected. He hadn’t moved at all; in fact he didn’t look like he was going anywhere.

“You left,” he accused.

She continued what she was doing, putting her shoes away and throwing her used clothes into the hamper in her closet, without the need for any light now that her eyes had adjusted. After all the years she’d lived here, she knew her way around perfectly well. It was late, and she was tired, too tired for this conversation.

“So did you.” She didn’t raise her eyes and felt rather than saw him stand to approach her.

“You can’t just go off on your own. What if something happened to you?”

Candra closed the door a fraction harder than was needed and brushed past him to pull the covers back from her bed, settling some of the throw pillows at the foot. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself—”

Suddenly Sebastian’s hand was on top of hers, gripping the comforter, and a surge of heat rushed up Candra’s arm. Instantly her brain dismissed it as an angel thing. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but she didn’t entirely like it either.

“You can’t go off on your own. We can’t protect you if you refuse to be protected. I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, but you are far too inquisitive for your own good.”

“Then why bother keeping things from me?” Candra pressed. “I’m not going to co-operate until I know everything.”

He snorted. “Even then you won’t co-operate.”

“Probably not,” Candra agreed shortly.

“You don’t need to know yet.” Sebastian finished with an air of finality to his tone.

Candra pressed her lips together defiantly to keep from letting the expletives she wanted to scream at him from escaping. The pale light drained the color from his skin, leaving him ashen. He looked tired. Was it her? she asked herself. Was she slowly draining everyone around her? Would everyone who came near her or cared for her end up a withered husk? She twisted her hand out of his grip and pointedly returned to fixing the bed.

“Talk to me, then.”

“I can’t.” He withdrew back into the shadows in corner of the room.

“Why? I have a right to know everything,” she demanded, struggling to keep from sounding like a whining child.

She heard his bleak chuckle echo around the room, taunting her with its lyrical sound. She wanted to insist he leave her bedroom and possibly her life too, but also knew insisting would be useless, since Sebastian did nothing that he didn’t want to do.

“What is so damn funny?” Candra ground out bitterly, trying to focus on the phantom in her room.

“You have no rights, little girl. You have duties and obligations. You have a future that will be influenced, and maybe even decided, by beings that do not know you or care to know you.”

“Like you?”

Sebastian stepped out of the shadows again with his fingers curled up into tight balls by his side, one hand methodically tapping on his thigh. His face was a blank, expressionless mask, showing no trace of emotion. He crossed the room in a couple of long strides and plucked one of the pillows from the end of the bed, propping himself against the wall where he was sitting when Candra woke up. It reminded her that he hadn’t actually used the door to come in, since she had been lying against it when she woke.

By the way he crossed his long legs at his ankles and his arms across his chest, it appeared that the conversation she hadn’t wanted to start in the first place was now over.

“You’re not staying in here!” Candra informed him, shocked that it appeared to be his intention.

“Look what happened the last time I left you alone,” he said.

“Excuse me for going to a party and acting like a human being,” she huffed, fluffing pillows again needlessly.

“You’re not human, Candra. So until you start acting like you understand what that means, I’m staying here.”

It was the first time anyone had directly acknowledged what she knew already to be true: She wasn’t human—at least not entirely, because she was pretty sure her birth mother was. She wasn’t sure if Sebastian’s admission was intentional or not, but it was there.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver iPod, simultaneously searching the files and placing the small bud in his ears.

“You like music?” She didn’t know why it surprised her; every time he did anything the least bit human, it surprised her.

“I’m not a Neanderthal, Candra. I’m probably not at all what you think I am.” He didn’t look up to her, but she saw him wince at his own words before he closed his eyes and settled himself as if to sleep.

“So this is it, then? You’re going to be my own private creepy stalker from now on?”

“If that’s what it takes to keep you safe,” he answered without moving.

“Is this really about keeping me safe or about you not wanting to share your sandbox with the others?”

His eyes snapped open, blazing with anger, and his nostrils flared with each deep breath. Five—it took five long, deep breaths while she looked at him. Then he fluffed and plumped the pillow harshly behind his head a couple of times before returning to his previous position.

She didn’t deliberately aggravate him; she just hated how he referred to her as a little girl. Sure, he had been around forever, but she didn’t really believe that was why he wanted to keep her snugly in a box labeled “little girl.” Candra believed Sebastian was afraid that she was going to make decisions and that those decision would be wrong in his eyes. Seeing his more vulnerable side at the party and in her bedroom gave her a slight thrill. It reminded her that she actually wasn’t alone. In his own bizarre way, Sebastian might even be trying to reach out to her while at the same time keeping her from something. Inexplicably, Candra wanted to reach out to him too—and to do that she needed more answers.

She climbed into bed, thinking about where she could get those answers, and she determined to do just that.

Candra knew she was dreaming, but it didn’t make it any less disturbing. She was walking home from college and was alone. Although she was going the right way, it kept leading her to the wrong place. She couldn’t find her way to the townhouse, and the streets were completely deserted.

There were no people, no birds, not even a dog on the street. She twisted around and around, calling out for someone to answer her, but there was no one there. Her voice echoed off the tall buildings, sounding hollow. In the distance there was nothing but silence, and she called again, screaming “hello” at the top of her voice, feeling as if the buildings were spinning around her. The wind whipped up, swirling around her like a cyclone, and the ground began to shudder. She heard the sound of cracking glass and looked up in time to see the windows above her vibrate and begin to shake. A noise as loud as thunder exploded around her as she fell to the ground in a shower of shattering glass.

She woke with a start in the darkness of her room, breathless, curled in a ball and clinging onto her pillow. Once her breathing evened out, she rolled over with the pillow still in her arms like a security blanket, to see Sebastian sitting by the window with his ear phones in, wide awake and staring at the ceiling.

In the following weeks, every move Candra made was monitored, dissected and measured. Every morning Lofi waited for her at the end of the stairs in uniform, bouncing and full of energy, ready to escort Candra to school and stay with her while she went about her daily activities. Each afternoon Sebastian waited outside school to escort her home and hang around her like a useless appendage.

Candra had started to take long soaks in the bathtub each evening; the bathroom seemed to be the only place Sebastian was still reluctant to follow her. Even that was becoming an issue. After a while, he would tap on the door, indicating he was checking to make sure she hadn’t climbed out a window again. But Candra had begun to watch him almost as closely as he watched her.

He got twitchy whenever she strayed too far from him. It was almost as if he expected one of the eagle-like Watchers that seemed to shadow them everywhere to swoop down and pluck Candra from his side. Their numbers were growing; it appeared that every week there were more Watchers in the city. Candra had seen them in everyday life going about errands, walking down the street, or drinking coffee outside cafés. She recognized them now; once she knew what to look out for, it was easier: their extreme beauty and the way the gold flecks in their eyes glinted when they caught the light. Every now and again she would see one with their wings extended and noticed how humans moved around them as if held back by an invisible barrier.

At night, Sebastian slept by her bed like a loyal guard dog. There were things she noticed about him: music was the first thing. He needed music to sleep, even though when he did, it was never deeper than a light slumber. A few nights, when Candra’s mind wouldn’t rest and she curled up on her side trying to relate the semi-life she was leading to the precocious child she had been, she watched the slow steady rise and fall of his chest as someone might count sheep, until his quiet melancholy lulled her to unconsciousness.

Another night when she could hear Brie and Gabe raising their voices downstairs, Sebastian asked her to read to him. Candra was taken aback by his cutting tone until it struck her what he was doing. He was calculating and stoic in his insistence, at the same time sensitive enough to understand she needed a distraction. She was unenthusiastically grateful for his company.

It wasn’t all bad. Sebastian knew the name of every star constellation in the sky, and several times he followed Candra out onto the roof of the townhouse.

Every once in a while, a flash of light streaked across the sky from the meteor shower that had drawn her out onto the roof that night. This particular shower was an annual occurrence, and Candra always enjoyed viewing it, but this year the falling dots of light held a new connotation for her. It was weird for Candra, knowing the meteors causing the lightshow were hundreds of years old but still not nearly as old as Sebastian.

“That’s Taurus, the bull,” Sebastian informed her, pointing to the eastern sky.

She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders; it was a particularly clear night and so, was also particularly chilly. Star spotting wasn’t the reason she ever went up there in the past. She liked to look at the lights while listening to some music, alone. Although strangely, she was getting used to not being alone—that was something she never expected.

Sebastian didn’t have a blanket; he was wearing his faded leather jacket. Candra grudgingly had to admit to herself that he looked good in it because, just like all the Watchers, he was made beautiful. She casually gazed at him instead of upward as he closed one eye focusing on the sky and tracing the outline of the bull with his pointer finger.

“What?” he half-grunted. “You’re doing it again.”

“I’m not doing anything,” Candra mumbled and averted her eyes, blushing profusely.

“Sure,” he snorted.

Out of the corner of her eye, Candra could see him smirking and shaking his head. He was sitting on a blanket beside her with his long legs crossed at the ankle. She supposed he had to have guessed she was trying to figure him out. He wasn’t helping. He revealed nothing about himself voluntarily. Sure, he was beautiful, but there had to be more to him than the few things she knew. She needed to look deeper…if only she could look at him without blushing.

“Oh, shut up and keep educating me, since you insist on being here,” she bit back grumpily.

“It’s been a very long time since I was a teacher,” Sebastian said off-handedly, leaning back on his elbows.

The very idea of Sebastian teaching a class of high school girls made Candra laugh out loud. She could just imagine the swooning and eyelash fluttering that would have gone on.

“You find it funny that I was a teacher?” he asked curiously. He didn’t sound offended at all. “I’ll have you know my students paid rapt attention to every word I spoke.”

“I bet they did,” she mumbled, looking up. “I’ve seen how women are around you.”

“It was an all-boys school actually,” he corrected her, “and it was an extremely long time ago. Unfortunately, looking so young limits some professions for me these days. Who wants a kid teaching their kids?”

“So I guess that leaves out being a doctor too?” she asked.

“I’ve practiced medicine several times, but again, not for a long time.”

“I’ve wanted to be a doctor ever since my father died. Somehow I got it into my head that I could have helped him.” Candra sighed, quickly darting her eyes over her shoulder to him.

Sebastian’s head was tilted back to the sky, deep in thought, and his lips were pressed together firmly, making his jawline tight and sharp. His Adam’s apple bobbed stiffly when he swallowed.

“Candra, I’ve been thinking.”

“Really, how that’s going for you?” she teased. He was always thinking. Candra presumed it was one of the reasons why he was constantly frustrated: he seemed to think about things so much that he twisted himself in knots. She thought maybe if he talked to her instead of keeping everything to himself, it wouldn’t be so hard for him. The idea that maybe he didn’t trust her enough made her sad for some reason.

“Maybe I could try sleeping on the couch,” he suggested, but sounded slightly hesitant at his own suggestion.

Candra was instantly hit by strange conflicting desires. She wanted him gone from her room; the guy was like a limpet constantly hanging around. But there was another part of her that protested. She had to admit she didn’t understand her situation completely, and so it had begun to make her feel safer having him around. She wasn’t sure if she really was safer or if it was just his distrust of everything rubbing off on her. Added to that, he distracted her from what was going on—he shouldn’t because he was a major part of it, but his company was a distraction nonetheless. Lastly, how would she ever figure him out if it wasn’t for the constant banter between them? Sleeping on the couch would put a dent in their late night conversations. So, Candra found herself, or at least a very small part of herself, wanting to continue just as they were. She turned to see he was leaning on one arm and rubbing his other hand roughly over his face.

“Maybe just another few days,” he finally said and rolled back onto his two arms again.

Candra sighed and snuggled into the blanket. There was no point in arguing, even for the benefit of the small part of her that wanted her space back. Sebastian wasn’t easily swayed once he made a decision. He would go eventually.

“So you enjoyed being a teacher?” she asked. She couldn’t help being curious about all of them and what they did with all their time.

“What’s not to like? Opening and shaping young minds,” he replied almost wistfully.

Candra snorted a very unattractive laugh. “That’s kind of scary, you shaping young minds to be just like you. All those little Sebastians running around.”

When her joke was met with silence, she realized what she had said. Candra forgot there never would be any little Sebastians—ever. He would never have children. It was with horror she realized she didn’t know if he ever had. For all she knew, it was one of his children that had been among the slaughtered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Sebastian sat up quickly and cut her off. “I know what you meant. It’s fine.” His face suddenly paled. The color drained from it like water from a broken glass, and he couldn’t meet her eyes. He obviously did not want this particular conversation proceeding.

“I’m sorry,” Candra repeated earnestly.

“I said it’s fine,” he said again with a hard edge to his tone. He brought his knees up and rested his hands on them, threading his fingers, gripping so tightly his knuckles bleached. “Just drop it, okay.”

Candra inhaled deeply, looking up as another streak of light shot across the sky. She couldn’t take it back; she would have if she could. Instead, they sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes. The air was so thick with the atmosphere between them that she was afraid to breathe, afraid she might choke on it.

“That’s Orion rising over there. Do you see it?” he said out of the blue, pointing to another constellation in the east, just above the skyline but lower down than Taurus.

Candra had heard of Orion before. She didn’t know much about the stars or where they were, but it didn’t mean she’d never heard of them. She nodded to let him know she could see.

“The Aram, the first people, named it Nephila. The constellation was in the sky long before they existed and will still be there for millions of years. They believed we fell from the stars—”

“That’s where the name Nephilim comes from,” she finished for him.

Sebastian’s eyes flickered to her, shining for a brief instant in the reflected light of the night sky and ambient glow of the city. “Yes.”

Candra lifted her hand and squinted to trace the outline of the constellation, trying in some way to imagine the sheer vastness of space in which it existed and that what she was seeing was light from so long ago. Another meteor shot past, and she sighed.

“What?” Sebastian asked with an expression of interest, leaning in a little to define what she was seeing.

“It makes me feel small and insignificant in the universe. I mean, to me, I’m important…obviously.” She raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

Sebastian chuckled and lifted his hand to chew on his thumbnail. Candra did a double take when the action automatically drew her eyes to his mouth. His grin that followed was challenging, waiting for her to have a reaction, which of course she would never show him.

“Anyway,” she went on, looking anywhere but him and hoping he would put her flushed cheeks down to the chilled air. “I’m important to Brie and my friends, but I don’t understand why I’m important to you.”

“You’re not important to me,” he answered hastily in his quicksilver voice.

Yeah, that’s never a pleasant thing to hear anyone say, she thought.

“To me personally, I mean,” he corrected himself, but she didn’t bother looking at him. Instead she continued to look at the stars. His correction wasn’t much more flattering. He took a deep breath and puffed it out, sounding almost annoyed at her question, although in Candra’s opinion he was the one messing up the answer.

Without looking at him directly, Candra saw him roll his eyes just as she was thinking it was a good thing he was pretty to look at, because he didn’t exactly have a silver tongue to go with his quicksilver voice.

“Every life has significance; everything we do is significant. It’s all cause and effect, Candra. Sometimes we can’t see why, but it is there, just waiting for us to stop walking around with our heads up our asses and bumping into each other long enough to figure it out.” He finished with a long, sad sigh, punctuated by the noise of a screeching crash and wailing sirens.

She was about to ask him how stalking her was significant in the grand scheme of life when he stood up, brushing his ass off with the palms of his hands and stretching his legs.

“I’ll be inside,” he stated bluntly without looking at her and took the space between where they were sitting and the fire escape in three long strides, not an easy feat.

Once again, apparently, the conversation was heading into dangerous territory as far as Sebastian was concerned. Candra was aware there were things even Sebastian didn’t want to share with her, though he did talk to her more than the others. If he thought walking away would make her stop thinking about it all, he was wrong. His sharp exit left Candra wondering why he wanted to hang around so much, if he was always in such a rush to get away from her. And the things he did share left her more curious about the things he didn’t.

Candra wasn’t seeing much of Brie. She knew Brie spent time with Sebastian when she wasn’t around or spent long hours at the gallery where she worked. It almost gave Candra the impression that Brie was trying to distance herself from her, as if she was trying to let her go at the very same time that Candra so dreadfully needed an anchor.

Even Ivy, ever-constant in her life, was off doing other things. Candra supposed the zealous nature of Sebastian’s presence was intimidating to be around. At least she and Ivy still got to hang out in school, and after a while, Lofi wasn’t so bad. In fact, being around her was the only thing keeping Candra sane through all of this. Lofi carried on like everything was perfectly normal, like Candra’s whole world hadn’t been shifted on its axis. Lofi never commented on the fact that Sebastian was always with Candra. She answered Candra’s questions but never volunteered information, which became tiring after a while.

Candra couldn’t trust the information she received off the Internet; it was sketchy at best and didn’t go anywhere close to explaining the reality as it was told to her. She did discover a meaning for the strange word Ananchel used at the party to describe the ones protecting her: Nuhra. It meant light. When Candra asked Lofi, she explained that they were all Watchers but that after they came here they became known as Nuhra and Tenebras: light and dark. It made sense to her, the others being dark, since they were the ones who’d destroyed the children. What Ananchel said made sense too; if Candra was to know the whole truth, she needed the whole story and that meant seeking out the other side. She was confident they wouldn’t hurt her; if they’d wanted her dead, Ananchel had missed many chances. Killing Nephilim—the children of humans and angels—didn’t appear to be on their agenda anymore, even if Sebastian was convinced otherwise.

Eventually she got tired waiting. Candra took her chance when Lofi was preoccupied with questioning Father Brennan about something she wasn’t listening to during English, and Candra slipped Ivy a note pleading with her to distract Lofi, even if only for a few moments. Ivy looked at her with questioning eyes before she nodded, indicating she would help her.

Candra thought she would simply distract Lofi by chatting, but when class ended and the other students began to scurry toward the door, Ivy tripped accidentally. At least, it appeared to be accidental, resulting in a scuffle of people, Lofi included, rushing to help her while Candra slipped out the door.

She knew she only had a minute or two to make her escape, so she headed straight toward the exit, bursting out the exterior door to come face to face with Flame-hair.

With the sleekness of an alley cat, she slinked her way to Candra, a sneer barely concealed on her ruby lips. As usual, she was clad head to toe in leather, accessorized by towering stiletto heels.

“Well, well, it’s about time,” Ananchel observed scornfully.

Candra approached her with her head held high. There wasn’t a chance in hell she would ever show Ananchel any weakness. From what Candra had learned about her so far, she thrived on it.

“I’m not here to make pleasantries, Ananchel,” Candra countered brazenly. “Just take me wherever I need to go.”

Ananchel arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow and waved her hand, indicating for Candra to walk ahead. It was then that Candra saw Sebastian watching from the other side of the street, his face a hard mask of discontent. His brown eyes blazed with a terrible rage like she had never seen in him, and she wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or Ananchel. It made Candra nervous about what he was capable of if crossed.

A mist shimmered over his shoulders and rolled downward at his back before his exquisite gold-tipped wings ripped through his clothes, flexing at mid-extension and stretching out to their full terrifying expanse. He looked furious; he looked like a man hanging onto his last thread of reason or an angel about to dispense a brutal, vengeful wrath.

“Hmmm,” Flame-hair purred. “He always was rather excitable.”

Candra struggled to draw her eyes away from him as she climbed into the waiting red Ferrari. The heavy, carved wooden door of the school swung open again, and Lofi raced out, calling to her. Candra ignored her and closed the passenger door, looking down to her lap.

“Your boyfriend needs to learn to control his emotions.”

“He is not my boyfriend,” Candra snorted, completely paralyzed by her need to not see Sebastian’s face in that moment before they drove away. She knew and fully accepted he would take this as a betrayal of all of them.

Ananchel snickered and pulled away from the curb, the screeching, spinning tires leaving a trail of smoke and burning rubber behind them.

She had to do this, Candra kept telling herself as they speeded through the streets, and she scolded herself internally for the guilt that settled over her like a black cloak. Right or wrong, what she was doing was the only way.

Chapter Eight

Ananchel’s eyes burned into Candra every now and then, although Candra purposely ignored her glare. Instead, she watched the city whizz by with a phony intense interest. It was the strangest sensation because as quickly as she memorized each turn, each sign, each distinguishing landmark, it slipped from her mind like sand from an hourglass. She tightened her eyes, concentrating harder on the blurring buildings and side streets. But no matter how hard she tried, her brain simply refused to retain even the smallest measure of information.

They pulled into the entrance of an underground parking garage. It looked just like every other one Candra had ever been in, except this one had an unusually high number of expensive hi-spec cars and classic models.

“I wouldn’t bother your pretty head trying to remember any details,” Ananchel advised coolly, exiting the car with a swish of her long hair. Candra got out and turned to look at her over the top of the gleaming red paintwork. “You won’t be able to find your way back here. We have certain abilities.”

Candra didn’t make the effort of a response, simply returning her nonchalant smile and shrugging off the idea like it had never entered her mind. Ananchel’s pouting red lips parted, allowing her tongue to peek out and flick across her bottom lip, leaving a moist glistening trail. Candra shuddered inside, keeping her outward reaction guarded. Ananchel looked…hungry. Candra had a moment of internal battle before she managed to stifle the desire to flee.

“Are you going to stand there staring at me all day or do we actually have somewhere to go?”

Ananchel laughed lightly and slammed her door with a loud clank that Candra felt clear on the other side. “You’ve got Payne’s fire, I’ll say that for you.”

“Don’t ever talk about my father,” Candra warned her blackly. A cold shiver ran down her spine at the same time her cheeks flared with a sudden anger. She didn’t know where it came from or why it so suddenly erupted.

Ananchel raised an eyebrow, totally unperturbed by Candra’s sudden outburst, and nodded for her to follow. They walked toward an elevator, keeping as much distance between them as politely possible given the circumstance. Of course, it wasn’t like Candra was well-versed on the etiquette of meeting an angel who probably rained fire and brimstone down on every other creature like her. A nasty queasiness bubbled in her stomach as the doors slid open with the cold harsh sound of metal dragging over metal. She really didn’t know who it was she was about to meet. She didn’t know where she was or if she could trust this person—but then, who could she trust? It wasn’t exactly like an old western where the good guys wore white and the bad guys black.

The vacuum-like popping of the door closing made her jump despite her best efforts to appear unaffected by nerves. Ananchel snickered knowingly, gaining Candra’s attention enough that she observed her from the corner of her eye.

“It may surprise you to know your father and I were once friends.”

It did. Even though Candra was unsure if she meant friends as in real friends or as in the friendship she had with Sebastian. She denied the urge to turn and ask Ananchel to explain herself, or to make any move at all.

The bell pinged, letting them know they had reached their destination, yet none of the floors were numbered. The door slid open.

“We are not all as we appear to be, Candra. I think you will discover this soon enough.”

Candra decided to place that particular comment in her memory vault for another time. As far as it referred to Ananchel, Candra knew as much as she wanted to know about her. She had already weighed, measured, and judged Ananchel. They were never going to be friends.

The elevator opened into a massive hall with dark-paneled walls that had no windows but were covered in tapestries of images Candra couldn’t make out clearly. Again it was like her eyes could see but her consciousness couldn’t digest. A fire roared in a huge, elaborate marble hearth on the far end facing onto two high-wingback leather chairs. There was a man there, staring into the flickering flames. His broad shoulders were relaxed, and although Candra couldn’t see his face, his demeanor seemed casual. She had to admit, the view from behind wasn’t entirely unpleasant. His white button-down shirt was cut perfectly to his lean upper body and stopped just short of his narrow hips and a firm rounded ass covered by faded denim. Even from a distance she guessed his clothes were probably expensive. She was surprised to notice his feet were bare. It didn’t seem fitting, given the setting.

Candra’s shoes padded on the intricate parquet wooden floor as shr made her way forward, each step echoing around the room. She noticed there were several doors dotted along the way, as well as the three at the end of the room, almost blending into the background where she had entered. The room was dimly lit by crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ornately molded ceiling. It was clearly a ballroom.

Beside her, Ananchel walked silently, apart from the melodic click click of her heels. Combined with the crackling of the wood fire, it created delicate relaxing music—in an odd, am-I-hallucinating? kind of way.

As they got closer, Candra began to get a sense of déjà vu. Something about the man, who she presumed was Draven, tugged at her memory. She’d heard overheard Gabe and Brie whispering about him, although nothing more than his name and that he was not someone to meddle with lightly. She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing his long fingers tapping on the mantle and his dark hair gleaming richly in the glow of the flames.

They stopped barely ten feet away as a deep foreboding washed over Candra. Her fingers began to tremble, and she closed them tight, distracting herself by digging her nails into the palms of her hands. His movement stilled, and she felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and butterflies.

“This is Candra.”

He turned slowing, keeping his hand on the mantle.

“My Candra, we meet again.”

I knew it. “Draven,” she uttered, releasing a fast breath, surprised at herself for not realizing it sooner. Somehow she had known at the party. She’d sensed there was something different about him but hadn’t attributed it to the possibility he could be one of them. It was the eyes that had thrown her off. All the others she’d seen had gold flecks that caught the light and were mostly brown, although some had different colors. Draven had looked at her with the same navy eyes, except now the gold in them caught the light—at the party he must have worn contacts. It was obvious now that he had been there checking her out, not stalking her in the same manner as Sebastian, but seeking information under false pretenses nonetheless.

“I don’t know why I’m surprised,” Candra grumbled. “You people seem to be capable of almost anything.”

Ananchel chuckled and was immediately silenced by a deadly flash in his eyes. “Leave us.”

She bowed and left, closing the heavy door with a clank that reverberated through the warm air in the ballroom. There was a shift in his expression when he looked back toward her. He dropped his hand by his side as he observed her with a reserved interest. His head tilted to the side a little as he spoke.

“Not what you expected?”

“I could ask the same, I believe,” she retorted, watching his lips widen to a smile and his dark eyes lighten.

“Touché.” He gestured with a wave of his hand for her to sit.

She kept her eyes trained on him as she moved to the seat. He was inquisitive; Candra could tell that much. Maybe because he was as interested in figuring her out as she was of him. “So what do I call you, Daniel or Draven?” She stopped short of sitting and raised an eyebrow in question, waiting for him to take a seat first. She wasn’t stupid and wasn’t going to give him the tactical advantage of standing over her.

He paused and then, understanding why she was waiting, took the other seat, interlacing his fingers across an incredibly flat stomach.

“Draven is fine,” he conceded.

Candra found herself gulping as she sat. “You wanted to see me?”

He was right; he wasn’t what she was expecting in the slightest. She had no idea why her mind had conjured up the image of a much older man, someone hardened and physically ravaged by time. He smoldered with an extreme charisma, and he had an authoritative air about him, almost regal. Of course he would be beautiful…in a different way from Sebastian. His eyes weren’t tormented, and he looked older by maybe a few years. That was something she hadn’t noticed at the party. As soon as Candra began to compare him to Sebastian, guilt distracted her from her purpose. She wondered where Sebastian was and if he was upset with her—well, more upset than usual—but she quickly remembered it was his and the others’ lack of answers that drove her here in the first place.

Draven waited patiently, as if he could see the conflict on her face. A rush of heat flooded her body as she remembered how his touch felt the last time they met. Despite herself, she had the desire to reach out and assure herself he was real.

“You wanted to see me too, I think?” he asked.

Candra nodded and ignored the smug lilt of his smooth voice. She was well aware that he was letting her know that he knew she found him physically attractive. Maybe he and Sebastian weren’t so different in their manner, after all.

“Maybe I did.”

He smiled conceitedly, and she felt the heat of her blush rise upward from her neck—which was exceedingly unhelpful in this situation. The more Candra thought about it and him and the way the tight, defined muscles of Draven’s thigh were clearly visible under the fabric of his jeans, the worse it got. He was aesthetically exquisite, even more than she remembered.

“Are you too warm?” he asked politely.

“I’m fine. I’m not here for pleasantries, but thank you for the hospitality you have shown me by agreeing to meet with me today.”

“What are you here for, my Candra?” he enquired curiously after a few seconds pause, holding her steadfast gaze.

Candra’s stomach clenched at the declaration of ownership belayed in his words. What was it about everyone wanting to own her?

“I don’t like when you call me that. I don’t belong to you or to anyone.” She felt the harshness in her voice but didn’t waiver.

He smiled silently, and Candra got the distinct impression she was merely being indulged.

“I want answers,” she said directly.

“You will need to be more specific.” He laughed lightly.

“Tell me what you want.”

His expression was carefully guarded, made to appear honest, but already she knew any truth she received here would be far from complete. It was as much to Draven’s advantage to keep her in the dark as it was to Sebastian’s.

“I would like you to be mine.”

“Yours?” She wasn’t sure she understood.

“I want you with me, Candra. I want you to give yourself to me.”

Candra stood abruptly and glared at him in disgust, which was difficult since he didn’t disgust her in least little way, the opposite in fact. “This conversation is over.”

While remaining seated, he grabbed hold of her wrist; his fingers locked around her skin like a cast iron shackle, tethering her to the spot. He didn’t look up to her, but he did release his grasp a little, lifting his other hand to trace the thin blue network of veins on the back of her hand with featherlight strokes of his fingertip.

“Please.” Candra whispered a plea, knowing her voice would sound tiny in the vastness of the space. “Let me go.” She didn’t know what she was asking for. She had wanted to come here, but now a terrible fear bubbled inside her that Sebastian was right and she had made the wrong decision.

“I can’t,” Draven responded just as quietly. “It’s already too late, Candra.”

She silently watched as he turned her hand over. The only sound in the ballroom was the crackling and hissing of the fire nearby, and the warm spicy fragrance of his skin mingled with wood polish filled her head with an almost visceral need to hold very still. His finger moved purposefully, skimming over the creases on her palm down to her wrist. Very carefully he lifted her hand and tenderly pressed his lips to where her pulse drummed with a steady beat. Something about the action was so chaste and yet undeniably erotic.

Every nerve in Candra’s body came alive at his touch, as if her body was an empty vessel before him, vacant and waiting to be filled.

“Your body recognizes me, Candra. I’ve been waiting for you.”

She jerked her hand away and cradled it to her chest as if she had been burned.

“Please sit,” he requested, smiling. The navy in his eyes glinted in the flickering and flaring orange glow of the fire. “Ask me a question, and I will answer it.”

Well, that was the best offer she had gotten in a long time, and it would have been silly, not to mention insulting, not to take him up on it.

Candra retook her seat, tentatively resting her hand across her lap in an attempt to look casual and not give away the shivers racing through her entire body.

Draven leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and pressing his hands together in front of him. He rested his chin on the tips of his index fingers and entwined the others. His eyes narrowed with a look of intense interest. It was difficult to know if it was genuine.

“Tell me what you know,” he said.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and cleared her throat before beginning. More than anything she wanted to be able to make an informed decision about her future, and that required answers only Draven seemed willing to give her.

“I know about the war…and the covenant.”

“Sebastian told you that much?” His eyes widened a little with surprise.

“No,” she admitted, feeling a strange pang of some alien emotion in her chest. “Lofi…Lofial told me.”

“Ah,” Draven sighed in understanding. “It would have surprised me greatly if he had been the one to tell you, but then, Ananchel informs me that you and he have grown close.”

Candra snorted very ungracefully, earning a startled chuckle from him before he observed her with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re kidding me, right?” She snickered.

Still, he looked perplexed, and suddenly it didn’t feel so funny to Candra.

“You’ve been misinformed. The very last way I would describe the relationship between us is close,” she finished seriously, trying to keep the bitterness from her tone. She had tried to meet Sebastian halfway; it was him that wouldn’t budge.

“Really?” Draven’s grin widened as if it actually pleased him.

She nodded once, wishing he would move this along. Not that she was anxious to face the ambush that would, no doubt, be awaiting her at home. Draven’s comments and the way he touched her, or more pointedly the way his touching her made her feel, disturbed her. Candra glanced at her watch, hoping he would get the message.

“I’m going to be honest here, Candra. I feel I owe you an apology. You see, I didn’t actually believe you were who Ananchel claimed you to be.”

She nodded again in affirmation. It was understandable. She couldn’t hold it against him. After all, she was having a bit of trouble believing it herself.

“I had to see you with my own eyes before I could believe you are truly Payne’s child—”

“The party,” Candra broke in flatly.

“I’m sorry for all the subterfuge.”

She shifted in her seat, remembering the party and how he had disappeared moments before Sebastian and Ananchel showed up.

“So you know who I am now; you’ve seen me with your own eyes. What next? Aside from wanting me with you and wanting me to give myself to you.” She laughed, hoping he was joking to break the ice, or that it was a misunderstanding, but damn it if it didn’t make her wonder what it would be like to touch him that way.

He laughed too, making fine lines crinkle at the corners of his dark eyes. After a moment, his smile faded, and he turned briefly to the fire. “We are tired; we are all so tired. We knew when we came here, the price we would pay…we knew there would be no way to return to heaven. We understood and accepted that much, and it was a sacrifice willingly made. Over the years, we have lost so many. The war practically wiped us out and then there was the covenant…there was never to be more of us. For humans, the future, their immortality, lies in their children. We don’t have that. We go on and on, and then we are gone. Those who are left have lost hope.”

“But you started the war,” Candra cut him off harshly.

His fingertips bit into the armrest when his body tensed as if in reflex to her words. “They were children, whatever else they were. They didn’t ask to be created.” He grimaced at the evidently painful memory. “If they could see you, how magnificent you are, they would all know we’ve been given a second chance.” Very suddenly his face was animated and lit with excitement from within.

Now that she was getting the answers she craved, her thoughts were more chaotic than ever. “And for that you believe you need to be with me?” Candra knew her face was scrunching up awkwardly and her cheeks were flaming. It wasn’t every day an angel wanted to play house.

“Ha,” he burst out with a wide grin. “No! Of course not.” His hand came up to ruffle his hair as he shook his head. “You are a beautiful and unique creature, Candra. I doubt you have any idea of your potential. You belong with me and only me.”

“You say it as if it’s a foregone conclusion.”

“I believe it is.”

“My father and Brie wanted to protect me. They hid me.” She rolled her shoulders back, determined to face Draven and show him that he couldn’t intimidate her—no one could. Just like everyone else, Candra had lost too, and she wasn’t about to lose any more. “My father must have had a reason for keeping me hidden from you. He must have thought you were a danger to me.”

Draven’s eyebrows drew down in a scowl, and his eyes closed. He started to shake his head and then pinched his nose rather brutally, hard enough to make her wince. Her stomach somersaulted. She guessed she had upset him…said something to offend him, and now he was mad. But she couldn’t take it back; she couldn’t unsay what she’d said. The only thing she could do was attempt to sift through everything she was learning and reach the truth. She moved in her seat again, trying to get comfortable and wishing it was made of anything but sticky leather.

Surprisingly, when he lowered his hand, he was bemused rather than scowling. “Payne didn’t do what he did because of us!”

Candra opened her mouth to say something, but her fumbling brain was too slow in groping for the words. Draven took a deep breath and went on.

“He wasn’t hiding you from us. Haven’t you worked it out yet? Why would Payne run from his own family? Why would Ambriel flee from her brother? To protect you from them.”

Still she couldn’t speak. She knew what he was getting at, at least the direction he was heading, and it was a train wreck that she couldn’t turn away from. There was nothing she could do to stop it or to make it easier. She was standing alone in its path, facing an onslaught she should have seen coming…and then it slammed into her.

“Had your precious Sebastian known about you, he would have obliterated you while you were still a babe in arms, just like he did the others.”

It couldn’t be, Candra thought. In her mind, she raced through the story the way Lofi had told it to her. The real truth was that some things stayed with you forever, seared into the memory of the moment you heard it, whether you wanted it to be or not.

Lofi never once mentioned they were part of the second wave of Watchers. Candra had presumed. She had presumed wrong. Her blood ran fast and cold in her veins, and she wanted to run. She wanted to run from this place and run from the truth, but where did she have to run to? And when they found her, would she run again? When would it ever be far enough to escape the awful truth she now carried with her?

When Candra looked back to Draven’s benevolent expression, she knew he could tell what she was thinking. Their betrayal was clearly evident in her eyes that stung with tears she refused to shed. No wonder Sebastian was the one keeping her from the whole story. Because the truth was, in another given place and time, he would have slaughtered her in the very bed he spent his nights so jealously guarding.

Brie…the full horror of her fear when she encountered Sebastian that first day in the hospital hit home finally for Candra. It was because Brie was sure they were there to finish her…but why didn’t they?

Draven was patiently waiting for the information to seep through—and why wouldn’t he? He had all eternity to wait. Candra understood there was so much more she needed to learn. How could they die exactly? Draven had said they went on and on and then they were gone, what did that mean? She needed to anchor her thinking; she was getting off course again. Meanwhile, she was aware of Draven gazing at her with those deep penetrating eyes. He’s the good guy, she told herself, isn’t he?

“What do you know about my father? Why was he so special? Why am I?”

Draven smiled and raised an eyebrow before he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. The action brought him only a fraction nearer but made the goose bumps rise on Candra’s skin. If she reached out, she would have been able to graze the very tip of her finger across his knuckles. She wanted to touch him. Something inside her called out to him as the moon called to the tide, dragging it forward to crash and break apart against an unyielding shore. She hated the niggling feeling in the back of her head that was trying to convince her that Draven was right. She couldn’t deny the connection between them.

“I don’t know why you are different.” His head tilted, observing her. She presumed he knew what she was avoiding and was indulging her. “I just know you are. I’ve never felt this…” He waved his hand between them before threading his fingers together once more. “I am utterly fascinated by you.”

Candra pursed her lips together, not wanting to be tricked into revealing the magnetic pull she felt toward him. She suspected, first and foremost, that it meant neither of them had seen much action lately.

“No one has told you about your father?” he asked curiously.

“I haven’t asked them,” she lied convincingly. “And I trust you.”

“You do?” He chuckled with a knowing smile.

Candra nodded. “I think I’d like that drink now.”

His smile didn’t waver in the slightest, but he bit down on the edge of his bottom lip, dragging the plump flesh through his teeth. It made her stomach quiver, and it would have been a whole lot easier if Draven didn’t have that effect on her physically. When he went to stand, he pressed his hands into the armrest, making the muscles in his upper arms tense under his sleeves and his fitted shirt strain over his chest. Her mouth watered.

“Anything in particular?”

“Anything strong,” she answered quickly.

“Liquor?” He glanced back over his shoulder from the cabinet where he was pouring a drink.

“I guess I’m not the little angel everyone expected me to be,” Candra quipped, earning a smirk from him.

Confidence rolled off Draven; he seemed so sure Candra would do whatever he asked of her, and it was making her doubt that she wouldn’t. He shook his head a little as he poured the amber liquid into a second crystal tumbler.

“Don’t be so sure, Candra.” After putting the lid back on the decanter, he brought a glass to her.

Candra took it with a grateful nod and immediately enjoyed the mild sting of the raw liquor from the first sip.

“You are still innocent; it’s written all over your flushed cheeks,” he said, lightly trailing the back of his index finger over her skin.

Candra almost choked and snapped her hand to her mouth so as not to splutter all over her chin…and Draven. “Excuse me?” she gagged.

“You are untouched.” He spoke the words with sincerity, as if it was something he knew for sure, which of course he couldn’t—could he?

“Not exactly.” Candra grimaced with embarrassment. Was this actually happening to her? She took a long gulp, which didn’t help to alleviate the gagging.

Candra hadn’t had full sex with Philip, but she was pretty sure she was past virgin status…technically speaking anyway, which led her to wonder precisely how close people had been watching her. Did she walk differently than non-virgins? Did she still have a virgin glow?

“My father?” she pressed, trying to steer him away from their current conversation, although steering Draven was something akin to driving a bus through a minefield.

He returned to his seat and sat down, crossing one ankle over his knee and rolling the glass between the palms of his hands. The crystal caught the light from the fire, reflecting a myriad of sparkling colors. It reminded Candra of the crystalline stone she had seen in Sebastian’s hand the night of the party, which in turn made her think of Sebastian, which in turn made her chest tighten. He didn’t lie, at least that was what she was told herself. It was simply an omission of the truth, and Lofi…Candra decided maybe it was her own mind that didn’t register the most vital piece of the information Lofi had given her. If people are defined by their actions, what should Candra think about the ones waiting for her at home?

“I’m sure you already know that we don’t recall much from before we came here. When we took corporeal form, we became human in a lot of ways, and one of the ways was that we were not meant to carry the memories of that other before life. I knew your father a little in later years…We didn’t mix much in the beginning as I’m sure you will understand.” He looked up at her from under his black eyelashes briefly and then returned his gaze to the glass. “He was a good man, and he made a choice most of us wouldn’t have. He loved his family, but he loved you more, apparently. He wasn’t easily influenced either. I can see that in you.” He smiled and sipped from his glass.

“What do you mean by ‘easily influenced’?”

“Payne held no regret in his heart: he let go of his grief and the war. He opened his heart up and allowed love in. The difference with your Sebastian is, he has never let go. He holds onto the past as a child would cling to a beloved toy. It gives him comfort to believe the war continues. That way, he never has to move on from it, he never has to try to make a real life for himself.”

The drink was spreading a warming comfort through Candra’s body, and she felt her limbs finally begin to relax. So she took some more, knowing it probably wasn’t her greatest idea ever. “I really wish you wouldn’t call him my anything.”

“Be careful what you wish for, my Candra. Wishes are a dangerous affair if spoken without due regard. Once they are out in the world, they can never be taken back.”

“Anyway,” she went on, drawing out the word and ignoring his warning. “I think you are wrong. You have to be. It wouldn’t make sense, would it? If he isn’t past all that happened, why would he be protecting me?”

“Accepting what he has done is not the same as coming to terms with it, or moving on.”

She pouted childishly at his mocking tone, convinced he was teasing her.

“Sebastian is a powerful influence. His inability to believe there is hope for the future holds everyone back. Every time we move forward, even to the tiniest degree, he riles all the others up. He can’t be trusted,” he swore earnestly and paused to take a drink. Of course, Candra believed it was only polite to follow suit. “He’s so busy torturing himself for leading the army—”

“Wait, what?” She held her hand up and lurched forward in her seat almost sliding off the edge. All of a sudden Candra’s mouth felt dry and her throat felt like someone had scrubbed it with steel wool. She swigged at the amber liquid. “He led them?”

“Sebastian was the messenger, the one who held the plans, the one who rained fire down on all of us.”

Candra slumped back into her seat and stared into the flickering flames. The oranges, yellows, reds, and blacks mingled fluidly. If she squinted her eyes, she imagined she could see images there among the blazing streaks of color—maybe her life, the life that had all but vanished now, passing before her eyes. She had been wrong on so many levels. She had misjudged and been led astray—intentionally or unintentionally, it didn’t matter. Even as she thought about the rest of them, Brie, Gabe, and Lofi, inexplicably it was Sebastian she was the angriest with. She was angry at him for making her be angry at him. She’d thought it was Gabe they followed, but it made sense now how Gabe had backed down and hadn’t told her more when challenged by Sebastian that first day she’d found out about the angels. It made sense now that Brie listened to him.

“Then I really don’t get it,” Candra groaned. “What has changed? Is it because of Brie?”

Draven laughed loudly, slapping his thigh with the flat of his hand, making her jump.

“What?” she ground out bitterly.

“If it was Brie holding them at bay, why would there be any need for concealment?”

Candra drained the last of her glass and waved it in front of her, brazenly gesturing for more. Draven rose without a blink and took the glass.

“Are you being deliberately evasive?”

“No. Are you being deliberately obtuse?” he countered.

It was like dragging information from a stone. At least with a stone she would get something, even if it was only dust.

“I simply don’t want to further his cause,” he added, returning with the refilled glasses.

“His cause?” Candra mocked, taking the glass and keeping her eyes on the mellow liquid that swirled momentarily as the glass moved. The first sip went down surprisingly easy this time.

Draven was still standing over her with his hand resting on the chair at the back of her head. She sat up straighter to look at him without straining her neck. As if she had offered an invitation in that simple act, he bent down, bringing his handsome face nearer to hers. Candra found herself twisting her body to him and blinked several times when his warm breath fanned over her face, laced with the spicy aroma of the amber liquid.

He grinned meaningfully and came nearer to her, making her stomach flutter. She got the marked impression of someone sharing a secret, except there was no one else in the room to hear. Candra couldn’t look away from him or from his perfect pink lips and the way his tongue moved with each word he spoke.

“Sebastian, the leader of the army who besieged and annihilated the Nephilim—” he told her in a muted whisper and came closer still, making the fluttering intensify and spreading a tingling sensation through her entire body. He swept her hair over her shoulder, allowing his mouth to graze across the shell of her ear, “—is in love with one.”

Chapter Nine

Candra flinched away from him, aghast and laughing. Only it was more of a cackle that was a few pitches higher than her usual laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”

Draven stood straight and scratched his stomach absentmindedly under his shirt at exactly her eye level. She couldn’t help noticing the tiny sliver of tanned skin or the sprinkling of hair that formed a line disappearing into his jeans.

“Is it?” His tone had softened, and he took a long swig of his drink before continuing. “You can’t have failed to notice the way he follows you around like a puppy, making those pathetic moon faces?”

“He hates me!” Candra exclaimed, staring dumbly at him and then added as an afterthought. “How do you know how he looks at me? Have you been watching me too?”

Draven’s shrug was noncommittal. “Pulling pigtails in the playground. There is a very thin line between love and hate, and it is sometimes easy to confuse the two.”

Candra was convinced she would know if Sebastian had feelings for her—Draven had to be wrong. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that she was right about this and Draven was utterly delusional. Whatever Sebastian’s reasons were for letting her live, that wasn’t one of them. She sighed heavily and looked down to her glass and the liquid shimmering in the glow of the fire. It reminded her of his eyes.

Candra felt Draven’s fingers brush across her cheek and turned to him.

“You don’t have to concern yourself with that volatile, surly child. You have me to protect you now.”

Protect her from what? From Sebastian, from Brie…they had done nothing except what they thought was best for her. They weren’t always right, and she didn’t agree with most of their decisions, but she was sure she didn’t need protection from them.

“We have company,” Draven stated sourly while still cupping her cheek with his curved fingers.

A split second later, the door at the end of the room where Candra had come in burst open, smashing into the walls on both sides and ricocheting back to be caught by Sebastian’s outstretched arms. His face was hard, as if his features had been carved in a warm-toned marble. He was too far away for her to read the emotion in his eyes…if there was any. His entire body strained with so much tension that Candra had a fleeting moment of panic that he would snap if he tried to move a muscle.

“Get your hands off her, right now.”

Candra’s eyes darted back to Draven who was grinning smugly. He winked and traced his thumb across her skin again before he pulled his hand away, at the same time rolling his shoulders backward, shooting a wave of onyx-colored mist along his spine. His blue-black wings uncurled behind him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

Draven extended his wings out wide, blocking Candra’s view of the room. All she could see was the sleekness of the feathers gleaming like glass. They stretched and shuddered once more, creating a soft breeze that fanned the flames of the fire, enveloping her in the faint aroma of burning wood. Draven, who was already turned slightly, leaned his head a little so he could look over his shoulder with a dangerous taunting glare. Candra knew he was using her, or more pointedly, what he perceived as his possession of her, to prod at Sebastian.

There was a sudden whoosh of noise in the distance, and Draven’s wings erupted with a crack as loud as thunder at his back. The force lifted him away from Candra, allowing her to witness the scene.

Sebastian was running toward them…toward Draven at lightning speed, his wings moving so rapidly they seemed to blur in a golden light. His feet barely touched the ground, and Candra was struck silent by the magnificence of him. Draven stood his ground solidly, now several yards away from her, his wings out wide and his fists clenched.

In a flash, Sebastian was right in front of him, his wings curved in as he lifted from the ground, flying feet first at Draven and hitting him square in the chest with the flat of one foot. He twisted his body one hundred and eighty degrees, catching Draven’s jaw with a violent kick and knocking his face to the side.

The glass fell from Candra’s hand and rolled off her knee, spilling its contents over her clothes, shattering on the ground and sending splintered crystal cascading across the floor.

Draven whirled with the force of the blow, but instead of falling, he did a full circle and in the process went down bent on one knee, straightening his other leg to catch Sebastian at his ankles as he landed. Sebastian somersaulted backward to a graceful crouch, his body tilted forward to accommodate his wings, still fluttering behind him. Draven stood in a flash, followed by Sebastian who instantly directed a blow to Draven’s face. Draven blocked the hit, forcing Sebastian’s arm away and opening him up to the body blow fierce enough to send Sebastian sliding backward across the floor.

“Had enough yet?” Draven sneered ferociously.

“Not nearly,” Sebastian panted. To Candra’s horror, he flew at Draven again, only this time, missing him completely.

Draven shot into the air and flipped upside down over Sebastian’s shoulders, hitting the ground behind him with a quiet thump. In a split second, he had his arms twisted around Sebastian’s wings, as if he was about to rip them away his body. Sebastian’s face contorted in pain, and Candra wanted to scream at them to stop, but when she opened her mouth, not one sound escaped. Her head filled with sounds of their grunts and her own heart beating rapidly as adrenaline coursed through her system. Sebastian let out a loud groan when Draven’s force increased. Candra was sure she heard something snap.

She was frozen, unable to stop them. Draven’s grip narrowed again, forcing Sebastian into submission.

“You come into my home and threaten me?” Draven growled incredulously. “What are you thinking?”

Sebastian winced again. His face was flushed and covered in a thin sheen of sweat while Draven appeared calm and unaffected.

“I’m thinking that I’m going to finish the job I should have done millennia ago.” Sebastian reached over his head and bent forward slightly.

In a swish of swirling color and feathers, Draven was wrenched over Sebastian’s head. This time Sebastian didn’t give him a chance to retaliate: he immediately pounced to crush Draven’s throat by standing on it. Before he found purchase, grunting with the strain, Draven locked onto Sebastian’s ankle and twisted it, spinning Sebastian into the air. He came back to the ground once more in a crouch, ready to spring again.

They were clearly evenly matched, and neither one would find it an easy job to finish the other. Sebastian stood in front of Candra, as if he was protecting her or shielding her from Draven.

“Did he touch you?”

“What?” Candra gasped, shocked by what was happening and the anxiety in his tone.

Draven laughed blackly.

“Did he touch you?” Sebastian roared without turning to her.

“She came of her own free will, Sebastian,” Draven informed him, placing emphasis on “free will” as if the words were a blade he could use to cut through Sebastian’s skin.

They were as bad as each other, Candra thought, both using her to goad, bait, and taunt. She wasn’t about to just sit there and let them.

“Stop it,” she shouted, standing up. “Stop it right now, both of you.”

Neither of them looked at her. Instead they glared angrily at each other. So she moved to stand between them, which was difficult when Sebastian’s wings juddered in front of her, clearly telling her she shouldn’t. She shook it off and moved past, noticing how he flinched when she brushed the silken feathers. His eyes were narrowed and black with rage, his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath. Draven, on the other hand, was composed and smirking, as if he knew something she and Sebastian didn’t…but he was wrong. Candra was well aware they were on his territory and he could probably have any number of Watchers in here to tackle Sebastian to the ground at any time. But she also strongly suspected Draven wanted to come out of this as the good guy and that meant dealing with Sebastian man to man…so to speak.

“I am so sick of this,” Candra told them both furiously. “You both treat me like I’m a commodity to be owned, and both of you need to back off.” She pursed her lips and inhaled deeply, filling her head with an array of fragrances that reminded her of both of them. “You have kept your shit together for this long. What the hell has changed? This can’t be all about me. What are you still not telling me?”

“You belong with us—”

“You actually believe that’s true, don’t you?” Draven broke Sebastian off, clearly in disbelief.

“Tell me,” Candra demanded, “or so help me, I’m leaving and—”

“We can’t have children,” Sebastian finally spat out. She looked to him, and his eyes closed briefly and then snapped open again, as if he’d forgotten he couldn’t take his eyes off Draven.

“I beg to differ,” she argued since she was standing there between them.

“He doesn’t mean can’t as in not able to,” Draven explained, and Candra watched as his wings rolled back in again, clearing sensing Sebastian’s defeat as much as she did. “He means can’t as in, it would break the covenant. If the Tenebras can’t bear children, then neither can the Nuhra. If the covenant is broken, then those that remain are no longer tied to it.”

She got a sick dizzy feeling suddenly and honestly couldn’t tell if it was the liquor or if what Draven was saying was sinking in. Both hands came up to rub her temples, and she felt a headache begin to tingle inside her skull. She was the weapon her father used to break the only thing stopping these Watchers from unleashing Armageddon on the world. Why would he do that?

“What can I do to stop it?” she asked quietly, feeling the weight of the responsibility pressing down on her already as she thought about Lofi’s description of the vicious, soulless creatures.

“You come to us,” Draven said. “We say Payne became a rogue before he died and was punished for it. You were kept hidden because of Sebastian…that part wouldn’t be a lie.”

She sensed Sebastian shift and raised both her hands to halt them before they moved, darting her eyes back to Sebastian.

“Then what?” she pushed, turning her face back to Draven but keeping her hands raised as a warning to them both not to move.

“If…” Draven spoke enticingly while casually running both of his hands through his hair.

As if anything about this could be deemed casual, Candra thought. She was standing in an ornate ballroom between two angels, both of whom apparently had a thing for her, despite the fact her very existence could unleash a plague of monstrous, evil creatures on the world.

“If,” Draven continued, “it was a rogue that bore a child, well, then the covenant would be intact.”

“What about me? Wouldn’t more break the covenant and risk having children because I didnt turn out bad like the others?” she asked, confused.

“No, not at all,” Draven chortled. “They will watch you, waiting for you to change and become more like the other Nephilim until your dying breath. Do you think just being born would be enough to convince them you are good?”

Yeah, I kind of actually did.

“But—” Draven went on. She heard Sebastian’s sharp intake of breath, almost a hiss behind her. “—because of the very nature of your birth, you belong with us, not them.” His head nodded to behind her to Sebastian.

“But it’s my choice, right?”

Draven’s lips spread into a half-smile, and he nodded once. She glanced back to see Sebastian’s expression was guarded, giving away nothing.

“And you’ll help us because…?”

“Because I don’t want another war. Those of us left will one day die out. I don’t want that cut short and…” Draven paused and licked his lips to bide his time. Obviously tasting the blood on the corner of his lip, he lifted and dragged the back of his hand across his mouth to wipe it away.

“And?” she prompted.

“I think you know what I want.”

“You would start a war to get a girlfriend? Boy, you really need to get laid,” Candra told him jokingly, feeling the nervous break in her voice and the warmth of the liquor in her system.

“No. I would start a war to possess you,” he corrected her in a husky voice that was drenched in sexual innuendo and made heat blaze across her flesh.

She blinked and looked away from him to the floor.

“How in the Arch’s name is that free will? How can we trust her choice will be her own?” Sebastian raged.

Candra push her hands out again and gave him a look that clearly shouted “do not move,” making sure he knew not to test her. She could see the tendons clearly straining in his forearms and his fist bunched up ready to hit something: Draven.

“What’s he talking about?” she asked Draven as calmly as she could, given that the tingle in her brain was quickly becoming a hammer pounding behind her eyes.

“A small trick.” He shrugged. “Something we used to help humans be more accommodating to us.” He lifted his hand to run his index finger over his chest. “Cross my heart, I’ll be good,” he finished with a toothy grin.

“Excuse me?” Candra asked with raised eyebrows. She had no idea what they were talking about, but then, nothing new there.

Sebastian snorted. “Heart? You don’t have a heart.”

Draven scowled and made his way to the cabinet, holding the drinks. “Oh, come on, Sebastian,” he started as he poured a drink and waved a glass at Candra. She shook her head. “Don’t tell me you’ve never used a little persuasion?” With his freshly filled glass in hand, Draven turned and leaned his toned ass against the edge of the mahogany wood.

“Persuasion?” she mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.

“I have nev—” Sebastian cut himself short, and when Candra looked to him, his eyes were suddenly downcast.

Persuasion…Oh, no. Candra shot Sebastian a look that could freeze water as her brain wrapped around what she was hearing now. It made sense; it explained her desire for Draven—not entirely, she was pretty sure some of that was her—but Sebastian…

“Tut, tut,” Draven chided, jeering Sebastian.

“The park,” she choked out.

“It was an accident,” he started apologetically. “It just happened.”

“You mind fucked me!” Candra exclaimed, her frustration boiling over. She combed her hair away from her face with both hands. That explained why she wanted to kiss him that day. So much for the angels being all about free will.

“It wasn’t like that,” Sebastian tried to excuse with an edge of bitterness in his voice.

“What was it then, Sebastian? Please feel free to share?” Draven baited him gleefully and finished with a quiet snicker that made it clear he was enjoying this.

“You, be quiet,” Candra warned him, and then turned on Sebastian. “And you, tell me, what was it? You poked around inside my head and played with my synapses. What would you call it? Gah…I almost kissed you!” she exclaimed, cupping her face in her hands. “Okay, that is it…kill him, Draven. I really don’t care.”

She heard the click of Draven’s glass on the counter, and the one quick movement was enough to bring her back to her senses.

“Wait.” She held her hands up again, keeping her eyes on the floor. She really didn’t want to look at either of them right now. “You did it too, Draven. So just go ahead and kill each other.” Candra took a single step before she halted again. She knew she couldn’t really stand there and watch them kill each other. Right in that moment, she wanted to, but she couldn’t.

“Wait.” Candra dipped her head forward again and rubbed her face with her hands, moving them upward to massage her scalp. “As much as I would like the idea now, it won’t solve anything for me. I need to sleep. I need to think, and I need to sleep.” She sighed wearily. Being a weapon of mass destruction sure takes it out of a person.

“I’ll take you home.” Candra felt Sebastian’s soft hands over hers, pulling them away from her face, and she looked up to him.

His wings were gone, and he looked at her with such beautiful sadness in his eyes that she found it hard to breathe. His jaw was tense, the muscles twitching when he swallowed. She had an intense desire to embrace him, not only to comfort him, but to seek her own comfort. This whole situation might be messed up, but it didn’t change the fact that she was, at least, part human and still needed the comfort of a hug when it felt like the entire world was resting on her shoulders. But she was afraid. She was afraid he would reject her afterward like he did the night of the party, and it would feel worse later if he held her now. She wasn’t sure her already battered heart could take it.

Candra presumed her confusion must have been written on her face, because he released her hands. They fell slack by her side, and she already missed his touch. She was sure that it was no angelic persuasion or her imagination.

“Let’s go,” he said softly, forcing a weak smile for her benefit.

Candra wondered when she had allowed Sebastian to slip under her skin. She was so angry at him for not telling the truth, for following her, for rejecting her. Why should she care if he continually turned from her? It wasn’t like the prospect of being with Draven was abhorrent to her. There was no denying he was charming, attractive, witty. He would be well-read, and he clearly cared for the people he was responsible for. As far as limited choices went, he wasn’t a bad option. But the idea of not being with Sebastian, of never being with him, of knowing without doubt that it could never be…it gave her the strangest feeling in her chest—an ache and emptiness. Not like the one she’d felt with Draven earlier. This was different, and she didn’t know how or why.

She turned slowly, keeping her eyes trained on the parquet floor, and followed Sebastian.

“I’ll see you soon, Candra,” Draven said assuredly, and when Candra peeked up at him, he raised his glass with a sexy smile. He knew she would be back, and somehow she knew it too.

“Goodbye, Draven,” she whispered.

Sebastian said no farewell.

He guided Candra silently through the sumptuous corridor of a clearly high-end apartment building. There were several heavy wooden doors like the one in the ballroom, carved wooden moldings, and tapestries on the walls like the ones Candra had seen earlier, only this time the images weren’t blurred. She realized then that Draven, or maybe Ananchel, had been keeping her from seeing them, and she understood why.

There were scenes of battles, winged creatures flinging themselves unto death—all bare-chested and beautiful, brandishing swords. One showed a child lying wasted on the ground, blood seeping from an angry gaping wound to its chest, its plump heart exposed through mangled bone. One of the winged creatures stood over it, a sword in one hand and the other hand held aloft, triumphantly. The creature wore a long skirt of some white, blood-stained fabric that clung to her curves like liquid silk and only long black hair covered her breasts. Candra looked closer and felt the bile gurgle in her stomach. It was Brie. She didn’t look at anymore after that.

Candra’s head pounded as if a sledgehammer was trying to break into her brain through her skull, and her throat itched. Eventually, after a seemingly endless elevator journey, they came out into the late evening, to a street where traffic buzzed up and down, the people completely unaware they were in the presence of angels. She looked up to the building to see that her hypothesis was correct and it was indeed an apartment building that looked just like every other apartment building on the long, chaotically busy street. Candra winced at the sound of a horn screeching as it passed. She was already beginning to feel the full force of the liquor.

“Do you have to shout?” She grimaced when Sebastian called for a cab that didn’t stop.

“You shouldn’t drink,” Sebastian reprimanded her as she rubbed her temples, ineffectively attempting to sooth the spreading pain.

“You shouldn’t fight,” Candra snapped back.

He frowned and pursed his lips, sucking in a mouthful of air and lifting his hand to stop another of the blue cabs. “Yes, well…I have experience fighting.”

Candra folded her arms over her chest tightly, simply refusing to get into another argument. She really didn’t have the energy.

What in the name of everything that was rotten in this forsaken city was the problem with getting a cab when you needed one? Sebastian could say that, forsaken, because he knew it to be true.

He could see Candra was tired, or drained might have been a more fitting word. Draven had influenced her for so long that her body had exhausted its energy fighting off his influence. She needed to sleep; she needed to refuel, and for that, he needed to get her home—which he couldn’t do if he couldn’t get a cab. His wing would need attention too. It was okay for now while concealed, but Sebastian wasn’t relishing the prospect of extending it to heal the damage Draven had inflicted. He suspected it was fractured and berated himself for letting his guard down, for allowing his emotions to control him in the heat of battle, because this was the result, and he should have known better.

He would have happily killed Draven today to stop her from seeing the real him, Sebastian, and what he was capable of; he just didn’t understand why. Candra could have handled the truth from the beginning, and if only he had gone with his gut instinct and not selfishly allowed his tender ego to panic him, it would have been him instead of Draven who told her the truth. He could have controlled it, let her know slowly, kept the things from her that he knew would hurt. He had been blinded by rage when he saw Candra leaving with Ananchel, irrationally so, but was powerless to stop her because he knew she would never stop until she got to the truth. It was one of the things he both admired and hated about her.

He should have waited for Candra to return and dealt with the repercussions then, but he was never the most patient of his kind. Thinking about patience brought him back to thinking about cabs. He was on the verge of carrying Candra back to the townhouse himself, something he knew would be met with vigorous opposition, when a cab pulled to a stop directly in front of them.

As soon as they were inside, Candra leaned her head against the side window, with her long bangs falling across her face, partially concealing her eyes, and slept. Although he considered she might be faking, he couldn’t fault her for not wanting to talk to him. Sebastian wasn’t sure what Draven had told her, though he could hazard a fairly accurate guess at most of it: basically everything they had withheld from her since she discovered who she was. Well, now she knows everything important, the entire, sordid history. It has to make me a monster in her eyes.

Sebastian had known Draven would want Candra, but he now believed he’d underestimated how much and the lengths to which Draven would go to get her. The game was on, and the prize was the girl. Candra was obviously disturbed by what she had seen and heard. Even in sleep, a delicate rosy color flushed her cheeks below her chocolate-and-toffee colored hair. She frowned, and two vertical lines formed between her eyebrows. His stomach knotted at the idea that Draven would win and Brie would lose Candra, because Draven wouldn’t allow Brie to join him, even though she was fallen. Draven would want Candra kept separate and dependent on only him for affection in his bid to win her over.

Candra was responsible and strong-willed. If she believed she could prevent a repeat of the atrocities Draven described, she would. Once Sebastian’s existence had changed irrevocably: he had given up everything for a cause he’d believed in when he led the army here. He broke heaven’s laws and killed Nephilim in the name of humanity. It was changed again the day he realized Candra was one of them, and he never for a split second considered killing her—not for the tiniest measurement of time. Sebastian knew with everything in him that he’d had to protect her then and he had to protect her now—her and Brie. He had to keep them together, no matter what.

“That went as well as can be expected,” Ananchel said lightly and closed the door to Draven’s apartment.

Draven watched them from the window as Sebastian jostled Candra into the cab, practically having to carry her. He felt a twinge of guilt at the idea that he may have gone overboard serving her brandy, but she had requested it.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Draven said to Ananchel. When it came down to it, Ananchel was his best friend.

He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the street below and the angry beeping cars, their drivers vying for position on the road. They were filled with rage against everything: the lights, the other cars, road works, pedestrians…

Ananchel came to stand beside Draven, looking down to see what he was watching. “Tut.” She shrugged, crossing her arms and drumming the nails of one hand. “Draven, it is not the first time you’ve had to correct me, and it won’t be the last. You know me; I never know when enough is enough, and this is too important to mess up.”

“Sebastian is far more involved than I imagined. I wonder what Payne would think of it?” Draven pondered aloud, turning from the window to look at Ananchel.

“I think he would turn over in his grave.” She chuckled.

Draven laughed too, but he had a niggling feeling, and it wasn’t because of their plan. He needed Sebastian involved for this to work. How could he not take advantage of the situation that presented itself to him? He hadn’t found it as easy as he imagined it would be to lie to Candra. It surprised him how much he liked her. She was strong-willed and determined. She had a good heart.

“Are you sure you are going to be able to do this?” Ananchel asked with narrowed eyes.

Draven went over to the couch, flopping down on the soft cushions, and stretched his arms across the back. “Of course I can. Do you doubt my charms?”

She rolled her eyes. “I think you genuinely like her, and I do hate that you’ve been alone all these years.”

He knew Ananchel was trying to look out for him, but it was his decision not to take a mate. He’d led them all here, and it was his responsibility to get them home. That was his first priority. “I haven’t been alone. I’ve had you for friendship, and I’ve had the occasional affair.”

Ananchel walked toward the couch and sat down beside him, pulling one of his hands from the back of the couch behind her and dropping it on his lap. “It is not the same thing, and you know it.” She raised her eyebrows, scolding him. “Besides, I doubt Candra will consider it charming when we betray her after she gives up everything for us.”

Chapter Ten

Candra was flying—really flying, floating through thick cloud cover toward the clear night above it, a sea of navy sprinkled with diamond. She didn’t recall there ever being so many stars in the sky, and so far, she clearly felt her aeronautical skills were not up to par, since it wasn’t what could be described as a smooth journey in any sense of the word. She juddered and shook with short, jarring motions and had no sense of her body at all, as if she was completely numb. It was altogether bizarre. The air was thin up here. It hurt to breathe. In fact, she hurt all over, especially her eyes which were…her eyes were closed. This can’t be right, she thought. How could she still see the sky, and why were the stars suddenly hurtling toward her? She couldn’t be sure it wasn’t the other way around and she was hurtling toward them. Candra couldn’t tell, and she had no control. She couldn’t stop it.

She woke with a start to find herself in the cab Sebastian had caught outside Draven’s building. Her mouth felt dry and tasted like some furry animal had crawl in and died there.

“What was that stuff I drank?” she groaned, holding her head in her hands. She would have happily scooped her eyeballs out with a rusty spoon in that moment, if it would have eased the drilling going on in her head.

Sebastian paid the driver and got out to open her door. Even in Candra’s excruciating pain, she noticed the way his shirt was torn, two slits once again where his wings had protruded when he’d lost control.

“Wine,” Sebastian told her as she got out, supporting herself with the door. “Can you walk?”

“Just about,” she answered. The words rattled inside her brain, as if someone had screamed them. “And not so loud, please.”

“I told you that you shouldn’t drink,” Sebastian teased lightheartedly, surprising Candra.

She had to wonder if it was just that he was enjoying her misery, but then he surprised her further by offering his arm for balance.

Candra looked up at him as the cab pulled away. Even in twilight he had the same luminescent quality, as though he carried the light within him. His chocolate brown eyes flashed with exasperation he couldn’t hide at her hesitation to take his arm.

Candra eyed him suspiciously, imagining if she reached out, he’d snatch his arm away. The sudden changes in his mood left her feeling she had spent days on end watching tennis games, with her head whipping back and forth. It was impossible to keep up. Still, she slipped her arm under his and clung to him walking up the steps, even leaning her head on the top of his arm near his shoulder. It was difficult for her to reconcile this kind and gentle part of his personality with the other darker parts.

“My head hurts…my everything hurts…” Candra whined while Sebastian opened the door with the keys he took from her.

“It wasn’t the garden variety type of wine you were drinking. It’s a special kind made by us, nearer to a brandy but much stronger. We have a stronger constitution when it comes to liquor.”

“Now you tell me,” Candra moaned, earning another chuckle from him.

It explained the excessive number of beers he was able to put away at the party and her unusual reaction to the drink she helped herself to that night while waiting on Lofi. “You’ll be fine. It will wear off soon enough,” Sebastian reassured her.

Brie was on the other side of the door to meet them, her wide eyes anxious and darting between Sebastian and Candra, appearing to be waiting for one of them to speak. She was still very thin; her jeans needed to be belted to stay on her hips these days. She had put some weight back on, but the two small lines between her eyebrows seemed to have taken up permanent residence there again.

Candra’s mind abruptly flashed back to the image she’d seen at Draven’s: the tapestry was intricate and brutal in its detail. Her stomach curled in, and she swallowed thickly.

“Everything’s fine,” Sebastian told Brie, removing Candra’s arm from his and, to her utter shock, hooking his arm around her shoulder protectively.

She inhaled the fresh mint and musk scent and groaned when her lungs protested at the exertion.

“Have you been drinking?” Brie demanded, horrified, sounding like a flustered mother hen. A flush rose in her cheeks.

A wave of nausea swept over Candra, and she leaned into Sebastian, closing her eyes to see stars again. “I’m never doing it ever again, if that is any consolation.”

“That’s how you’re going to deal with this?” Brie asked caustically. “You think you can get lost in a sea of booze and this will disappear?”

Her tone was harsh and cutting, meant to put Candra in her place. Or at least Candra thought it was, until she opened her eyes to see Brie’s eyes fixed on Sebastian.

“No, I don’t.” Sebastian responded barely above a whisper. Whispers suited Candra. They didn’t hurt her head. “Believe me, if that was the way I felt, this would be a whole lot easier.” The confusion in his tone was apparent and made Candra wonder what he had to be confused about.

She believed this was her problem, her decision. She was the cause and effect, and she was also the only solution. Yet again, she felt totally alone. “Can I please be reprimanded tomorrow? I just want to get to bed now…please.”

Brie stepped forward and pressed a cool hand to Candra’s head. In her disorientation she almost flinched away, but her stepmother didn’t appear to notice the split second indecision when the image from tapestry flashed through Candra’s mind. Brie smoothed her hand downward over Candra’s cheek. Her lips were pursed as she brushed the hair from Candra’s face.

“Do you need me to get you anything?”

Yes, a new life would be nice. “No, I’m fine. If Sebastian could come up and help me, that would be great.”

Candra saw a flash of trepidation, and Brie’s pupils flared infinitesimally. Clearly she was against it and sensed Candra’s growing attachment to his company even though Candra had no idea when that had happened. She didn’t look to see what his reaction was, but since he hadn’t spent a night outside her room since the party, she believed her request probably didn’t make much difference to his plans anyway.

Brie nodded once and moved aside, allowing them past. Sebastian let Candra go to climb the stairs one step ahead of him. His hands stayed on her hips, supporting her. She could have been imagining it when she felt his fingers as she reached the top step before he let her go, almost like he didn’t want to. Candra couldn’t deny it made her wonder if there wasn’t some truth in what Draven said about Sebastian’s reasons. She couldn’t fathom why the idea he had any feelings for her other than apathy was terrifying.

Candra was walking through a park she recognized, but hadn’t gone to in years. It was the one she only recently remembered, the one her father had taken her to several times. The day was bright, and she could feel the heat of the sun from the cloudless azure sky wash over her skin, which was strange considering the fine layer of swirling mist around her ankles and coating the grassy knoll she was climbing. She remembered the hill. Once at the top, she knew she would see the shining red swing set and matching slide and climbing frame. Beyond that, she would see the oak woods where she used to take walks with her father.

Just as she expected, it was all there: the oaks standing proud behind the place where children played contentedly, laughing brightly while the low mist moved around them like milky satin gliding fluidly over the bark-covered ground. Candra continued on as if drawn to their laughter and lifted her hand to her brow in an attempt to dull the garish sunlight shining in her eyes. It was only then that she saw the man, the only adult in the scene. He was pushing one of the swings, and she felt the strangest tug inside her chest at the joyful giggles of the little girl rising into the air and swinging back, only to feel the gentle push that forced her to rise against gravity one more.

Candra went on, feeling strangely compelled. Each step made the mist disperse and swirl, and as she moved closer, she saw the dark chocolate brown of his hair reflecting in the light with strands of gold. He was familiar and different at the same time. There was something about his solid shoulders and strong back and the way he rocked back on his heels with each push.

“Higher, higher…” the girl squealed. “I want to fly.” Her voice echoed around Candra’s head as if it was coming from inside her, and it cut like razor blades slicing into her brain.

Candra winced and fell to her knees, hit by the scent of wet grass and a metallic taste that filled her mouth.

The man chuckled, but it was too loud. She clasped her hands over her ears to block it out, but the other children continued to play obliviously.

“But what if you fall?” He laughed, and Candra knew it was him—it was her father, just as he’d been when he was alive.

The girl, she was Candra as she was years ago. She wanted to scream at them, to call out and warn him about the car that he would step out in front of. To tell him he wouldn’t make it home, but she couldn’t. She was trapped by the mist rising about her like ribbons twisting around her body and locking her there. When she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

Candra struggled against her bindings as the day darkened and the once inviting trees turned angry and threatening. Their leaves turned black and flew into the air in a disorganized movement of swooping and diving toward the gray overcast sky. The branches gnarled and twisted in on themselves, transforming into claws, ready to rip apart the unsuspecting father and daughter as they continued, oblivious to the menace creeping up on them.

Please…no…please…Candra’s mind screamed as tears streaked down her hot face. No. The binding mist rubbed against her soft flesh, biting into it, leaving deep welts. She was trapped; she was completely trapped.

“I’m not afraid,” the girl protested.

He laughed brightly, and Candra blinked away stinging tears that blurred her vision of him. He was young and handsome with a sharp jaw, defined cheekbones, and full lips pulled back to a beaming smile as he looked at his daughter—Candra.

Candra woke abruptly and for a second didn’t know where she was. The dream was so real and disconcerting. It had been so that bright she had trouble focusing in the semi-darkness. She was safely in her own bed where she had fallen asleep several hours before, according to the clock beside her bed. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, and a dull ache still throbbed in her brain, although not as painful as it had been.

A sharp intake of breath reminded her she wasn’t alone, and she twisted under the covers to see Sebastian, bare-chested and straining to reach over his shoulder, toward his partially extended wing. The light from the street filtered in, catching the contours of his sculpted body in shadow, the ridges of his taut abdomen and the indents over his hips leading into the band of his low-slung jeans. She spent a moment or two longer than necessary watching the way his muscles rippled and corded under his smooth golden flesh with each tiny movement of his body, until another sharp intake of breath alerted her to the fact he was in pain.

“What happened?” Candra asked in a sleep-laden voice, rubbing her eyes as her breathing began to return to normal.

She’d surprised him, and he turned his face to her sharply, wincing again when his damaged wing fluttered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I had a nightmare.”

“You have them a lot,” Sebastian observed with a frown.

Candra chuckled humorlessly. “Well, I seem to have been inspired recently.”

He winced again. It was then Candra remembered the cracking noise she heard when he’d fought with Draven, and her nightmare was instantly forgotten. She flung the covers away, jumping out of bed and rushing to him.

“You’re hurt,” she said softly, reaching for his wing. She could now see it was bent awkwardly.

“It’s nothing,” Sebastian responded moodily, moving around from Candra’s outstretched arms and turning his damaged side from her. He wasn’t fast enough to hide the tightness in his eyes from her—he was lying.

He was holding that stone that she had seen him with in his hand again. She guessed she’d disturbed him while he’d been healing himself.

“Wow!” Candra sighed in exasperation, dropping her hands limply by her side.

Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up in question to the action, arching perfectly over his expressive brown eyes. Expressive now, but Candra remembered how fast he could bring down a veil, cutting her off from anything he was thinking. She realized suddenly how much she hated not knowing what he was thinking.

“Are you going to elaborate on that, or am I meant to guess?” Sebastian snapped.

Candra narrowed her eyes at him and turned briefly to switch on a lamp in the corner, casting the room in a pinkish glow. She turned back, fixing the tank top strap that had slipped off her shoulder, and was surprised to see him watching the action closely—even more surprised when he quickly averted his eyes and swallowed hard. A sudden heat rushed up her spine and flooded her cheeks, once again reminding her of Draven’s words. Candra shook her head, dismissing it.

“You have lived all these years and you’re still a grumpy teenage boy. That must take effort,” Candra scolded him.

“I am not,” he snapped back, making her lose the battle with the smile she was trying to hold back.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, smiling at last and making her stomach do a tiny somersault. “Point taken.”

“Can I see now?” Candra asked, holding her hands up, gesturing that he could trust her.

Sebastian sighed heavily and turned his back to her. The first thing Candra noticed was the way the wings protruded flawlessly from his smooth back on either side of his spine and the way the wide expanse of his back narrowed to a tight waist, drawing her eyes to the band of his jeans below two small dimples, and then to the curve of his ass. She gulped as hot blood thundered through her body at an alarming rate, then lifted her hands again to find them trembling. He flinched when she touched the joint below his shoulder, where a swelling told her something had been damaged, but it was the tingle that shot up her hand through her fingers that distracted Candra the most.

So, I’m attracted to him. I knew that, didn’t I? Even if she didn’t like it very much. And he was an ass—right now an ass in pain, but still an ass. And he lied. And the things he’d done…she shuddered.

“What?” he asked, worry coloring his tone.

Candra had no idea if it was her silence or if he sensed her sudden trepidation at their closeness.

“I think you broke something,” she said shyly, hearing the small crack in her voice.

“I didn’t,” Sebastian responded coldly, his shoulders stiffening.

Candra was about to say something about him rushing in to save the damsel who wasn’t in distress but thought better of it, knowing it would rile him further. “Can I help?”

He turned around again, holding out the stone in his hand. “This is a curleax healing stone. It’s nothing more than a crystal, really, but each only resonates with one being. This one is mine; it won’t work for you.”

The small, smooth stone shimmered in his palm. It looked like a milky quartz, picking up and reflecting the light that danced over his chest, depending on how it was turned.

“How does it work?” Candra asked curiously, unable to resist the urge to run one exploratory finger over the smooth surface. The hair on her arms stood as if she were cold. When her finger brushed the skin of his hand, a fiery heat crackled across her skin. Sebastian’s hand clamped over hers, and she looked up to his downturned face, only now noticing how close she was standing to his semi-naked form. Gold glinted in his eyes, and her pulse quickened. She blinked.

“It allows us to concentrate our energy, our life force, and we can use that energy to heal.”

“You healed me.” It wasn’t a question. There was no doubt in Candra’s mind that he had healed her on more than one occasion. He nodded, and she swallowed, even though her mouth was dry. “I want to heal you,” she told him, taken aback by her honestly. She didn’t know why it was so important to her, but she wanted to take away that pain she saw in his eyes every day. Sebastian’s warm breath fanned across Candra’s face, and she moved toward it blindly.

Sebastian’s other hand was on her waist, and he leaned toward her, his eyes focused on hers with a smoldering intensity.

She wanted to kiss him. It wasn’t like the park; well, in a way it was, because she didn’t know why she wanted to kiss him, just that she did and it was all coming from her own thoughts. She wasn’t being influenced; she was sure of it. There was something between them. Candra understood now it had always been there, even when she denied it. They had some sort of connection. They were both broken in some way—him because of a history he couldn’t forget and her because of a history she was learning. It was both exhilarating and frightening. His hand that held the stone slid around to her back, and she felt its smooth warmth against her skin.

“Wait!” Candra pushed back from him, leaving him looking a little dazed, and she rushed to her closet.

“I’m sorry,” he started.

“I’ve just remembered something,” Candra said excitedly, choosing to ignore the regret in his tone. She came back to her bed and sat down, holding the shoe box she had retrieved. “And you have nothing to be sorry about. I wanted to kiss you this time.”

“You did?”

His unconvinced tone made her look up to him. Unfortunately his smug grin didn’t match his tone.

Candra shook her head, exasperated, and turned her attention back to the box. “It seems we’re making progress. You’ve never said sorry to me before…for anything.”

“Well, I’m sorry for that too,” he muttered.

She continued to rifle through the contents of the box and harrumphed, wondering if he actually meant it.

“What?” Sebastian demanded in frustration. “You have no idea how maddening it is to never know what is going on inside your head.”

“I don’t think you mean it,” she stated flatly.

“Everything I do is for your own good. I’m sorry if that’s a problem for you,” he excused himself defiantly.

And…he’s back! She laughed inside.

Sebastian yelped, Candra presumed because he rolled his shoulders back the way he always did when he was being self-righteous, but in this case he’d forgotten his damaged wing.

“Oh, please stop now. I’m not sure I can handle all this groveling,” she said, snickering sarcastically. “Ah ha, I found it!” She held up the smooth, black, crystalline stone to show Sebastian and enjoyed the moment of confusion on his face before he recognized it.

“It’s Payne’s.”

“It is,” Candra confirmed, placing the box on the bed beside her and standing. “Can I try?”

Sebastian frowned and reached up to rub the back of his neck, forgetting again before the sharp pain manifested in a grimace on his face. “It won’t work.”

“He was my father. He gave me this before he died. I thought it was just a pretty stone, but I’m thinking now that he may have had reason to believe I could make it work.”

He pursed his lips dubiously.

“Can I try?” Candra repeated. “And if it doesn’t work it will just be another thing you were right about, won’t it?”

He smirked, and butterflies began to do a little dance inside Candra.

“Okay, you can try,” he agreed reluctantly and stood, turning his back to her.

“What do I do?” Candra asked, laying her hand over the space on his back between his wings. She slid her hand carefully downward over the warm flesh covering his spine, raising goose bumps. She felt him shiver. It wasn’t from pain; she was sure it wasn’t. Did that mean he liked it? Things were getting complicated…well, more complicated.

“You have to want it.” He paused and cleared his throat. “It comes from your emotions, a kind of force of will.”

Very gently, Candra brushed her hand over the injured appendage, enjoying how the silken feathers slipped through her fingers. “You mean that I have to make up my mind to do it and just do it.”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “Find it inside yourself to make it happen and the curleax will focus your energy.”

“Okay, I can do this,” Candra whispered under her breath. “I can do this, I can do this.”

“Don’t think it. Just do it.”

She brought one hand to the spot where she could feel the cracked bone and very gently positioned the stone over it, feeling his steady breathing hitch at her touch before returning to normal under her fingers. She could smell his heated skin, a scent that was uniquely Sebastian. Candra closed her eyes and inhaled, concentrating on nothing but him. She had no idea what she was doing; she only knew that she didn’t want him to hurt anymore and the tightness it caused in her chest when she knew he did. She clung to that feeling and listened to the sound of her heart. There was no question that she wanted this.

It began with a warming sensation in her stomach and coursed quickly through her entire body, not unlike the sensation of a comforting embrace. The heat traveled through her chest where it caught her heart with a few ragged beats and fired like a lightning bolt through her arm and her fingers. Candra felt the smooth stone in her fingers warm and then sear until she wanted to fling it away, but she didn’t. She held still, willing it to work, focusing from the boiling temperature in her hand to Sebastian and the idea that she was doing this for him. She was helping him. Her arm shook, and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled. She clenched her teeth and curled her toes against the wooden floor beneath her as a surge of energy bolted through her.

Then, it was over. The heat subsided quickly, leaving her drained and weak on shaky legs. The room seemed to darken, and Candra’s hand fell lifelessly by her side. She didn’t have the strength to hold the cooling stone, which felt as if it weighed a ton. It dropped to the ground with a low clack. Her eyes rolled, and then everything went suddenly black.

“Candra?” Sebastian’s voice called to her softly.

Candra blinked furiously, attempting to bring him back into focus. He was above her, surrounded in a warm halo of light making his blond hair shine. His face was in shadow, with worry etched in deep lines across his forehead.

“I passed out?” she asked, slightly bewildered as he smoothed hair away from her face.

“Yeah, you did, spectacularly actually. You dropped like a brick,” he told her, and she wasn’t expecting the pride in his voice or the way his lips twitched at the corner before he smiled. She was on the floor, cradled against his warm body. It felt nice, comfortable, and not awkward at all. The halo was, in fact, only the light of the lamp coming from behind him.

“How long was I out?”

Sebastian grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corner, and his full pink lips pulled back, displaying his blinding smile.

“What?” Candra grimaced, confused as to why he was wearing his teasing expression, and how she even knew which expression was his teasing one.

“You been out about all of four seconds,” he said, chuckling.

“Huh?”

Sebastian scooped her up off the floor as if she weighed nothing and swung around to sit on the bed…with Candra still cradled in his lap. “You barely had time to get horizontal.”

“I did it?” She’d expected it to work but was still surprised. He nodded. “So you’re healed? I healed you?”

He nodded again. His wings were gone, and he looked just like a human guy again—an extremely good-looking, semi-naked guy who was holding her in his arms, on her bed. Her eyes followed to where her hand was resting on his shoulder and slipped down, gliding over a tight bicep. She swallowed thickly as her heart started to beat erratically, and she felt the muscle tense under her fingertips.

“Is that how your wings work too? You want it and you find it in yourself to keep them hidden?”

“More or less.” He shrugged.

Candra flipped her fingers over and grazed the smooth curve of her nails back up his skin toward his collarbone, watching how the pressure left pale lines that disappeared almost instantly.

“What were we doing before we got distracted?” Sebastian breathed huskily into her hair, snapping her back to her senses.

This is Sebastian I am man-fondling, she realized to her horror.

She pulled away quickly, pushing off of him, but Sebastian held her tight, chuckling merrily, all traces of his earlier pain gone.

“No,” he said, pouting playfully. “I like you right here, where you can’t get into any trouble.”

Candra stopped fighting him and crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. Sebastian’s definition of trouble and hers were apparently quite different. “Is that what I am to you? I’m just a project to study. Are you like the others, waiting to see if I’ll change?”

Sebastian pursed his lips and frowned, drawing his eyebrows downward. He shifted Candra on his lap, still holding her tightly, and scooted backward on the bed, until his back hit the metal frame.

It was all Candra could do to keep from groping him, the way his muscles twitched and the fine indents appeared on his shoulders…and his scent—it was so strong. Every inhaled breath was filled with the sweet spicy fragrance of his skin lightly underlaid with a smoky aroma. She wondered if that was what Brie was referring to. Did Sebastian go to a bar earlier?

“No and no,” he replied sternly, his serious brown eyes glinting with gold. “You are so much more.”

“What then? Why didn’t you kill me?”

Sebastian leaned his head back against the bedframe and closed his eyes. Candra watched his Adam’s apple bob and had the strongest urge to lay her lips against his skin. Her angel crush was growing at an astronomical rate. She guessed there was some truth in the idea that there is no one as attractive as someone who’s in love with you. Except that she was positive Sebastian wasn’t in love with her.

“I just couldn’t,” he said after a long sigh.

Candra scowled even though Sebastian wasn’t looking at her. “That really isn’t an answer, is it? Please talk to me. I want to understand who I am and where I come from. Please help me do that.” There it was. She couldn’t be any more honest than that with him, or anyone for that matter. She didn’t believe she was asking for much, just the truth about herself.

Sebastian looked back to her and hesitated. She wondered if he trusted her at all. He had just said he wasn’t waiting for her to change, but maybe he was already so convinced she would take Draven’s offer that he didn’t want to share the darker part of his personality, that he was expecting her to betray him. Really, when it came down to it, she wondered if she had a choice. The finality of the situation was apparent to all of them. She would have to go to Draven; it was simply a matter of when.

Chapter Eleven

Candra contemplated asking Draven, if she were to go to him, if she became one of the Tenebras, if they left the city, could she still maintain her relationship with Brie? She knew it wouldn’t happen. She wasn’t stupid; Brie would still be seen as one of the Nuhra. She would never be accepted by them. Even if Candra could ask her, she wouldn’t. There was clearly something between Brie and Gabe. Brie had given up so much; Candra would never ask that of her too.

Tears itched in her eyes when she realized she was fighting the inevitable. There was no way to come out of this unscathed; maybe that was why Sebastian was being so nice. Sudden desperation washed over her when she realized their time was limited. Her head leaned against his shoulder, and her arms sought his waist of their own volition.

“I wish I could find another way, but I don’t know how,” Candra murmured against his skin and felt his heart jump.

“Why don’t you hate me? I’ve done such terrible things,” Sebastian whispered against her hair. She could feel the vibrations of his lips against her scalp, and his fingers threaded up through her hair.

“Why don’t you hate me? I’ve invalidated everything you thought you stood for.”

“I was looking for Brie, because I needed some sort of closure. I have a little problem with always wanting to be right about everything.” He paused to chuckle, and Candra couldn’t help joining in. At least he could see it.

“Wow, really? I hadn’t noticed. You always seem so open and willing to compromise,” Candra teased. Again, her body reacted without conscious decision, and her head turned toward him. Sebastian’s breath stopped when Candra’s lips brushed over the skin below his collarbone, and she froze. I didn’t kiss him, she thought. It wasn’t a kiss. It was just her lips accidentally touching his body—it wasn’t a kiss. All the time she was trying to convince herself, she was stock-still and he wasn’t breathing, but his heart was thumping heavily. Candra was relieved when instead of confronting her with her actions, Sebastian continued on.

“I was convinced that Brie was persuaded against her will to fall, even though my rational mind knew it to be completely impossible. You see, like everything else, we have to want it badly enough and truly enough. There can’t be any indecision. Still, I searched for her. When I found her, I found you.” He stopped again, breathing deeply and exhaled, sending his warm breath over Candra. “This is hard. I haven’t spoken about it with anyone else.”

“Then I’m glad it’s me.” She focused on the metronome beat of his heart to steady her nerves. At this point she was willing to concede that Sebastian didn’t, in fact, hate her.

“They are all wrong about me. I know what they think: that I can’t accept what I’ve done, that I’m still looking for forgiveness. I’m not proud of my actions, but I did what I had to, and if I’m being honest, I would make the same decisions again. You don’t invalidate what I’ve done in the past. What I did in the past was right at the time, but I hate that I had to do it. The first time I saw you, I knew you were different. Do you want to know the first time I laid eyes on you?”

Candra nodded against his chest. “I have memories, but it’s like they overlap. Sometimes I remember you there and sometimes I have the same memory and you aren’t.”

“Hmmm,” he hummed.

She knew that was his influence. It was just like the drive to Draven’s where she knew she saw things but couldn’t recall them properly.

“I had just found Brie and was being a petulant child, stubbornly refusing to accept she had moved on with her life. She seemed happy, relaxed. I felt nothing. It was like someone had taken a blade and sliced through the connection we once shared, and it hurt really badly. I followed her while she shopped, keeping my distance and trying to figure out a way to approach her. Then I saw you. I could tell, you know, right away…” Sebastian ducked his head down to Candra’s so she only had to tilt her face a little to look at him.

She quickly wiped a stray tear away, but he saw and averted his eyes, clearly unsure how to react now that his bravado had slipped.

“You met Brie outside a little coffee shop, and I knew…I knew you were good. It shone out of you like a beacon of light in utter blackness. You sat outside, and there was a young child at the next table. He was terribly upset, and you turned to him and made a funny face then smiled. The little kid, he stopped crying right away and smiled back at you. Kids see through masks so easily. If you had been merely pretending to be good, he would have known; he would have been afraid. I couldn’t hurt you.”

“I don’t remember that day,” Candra said sadly. She wished she could recall it as vividly as he clearly did. It was just one day out of many for her; it wasn’t anything that she would have committed to memory.

“That was the first day I felt hope in a very, very long time.”

Candra curled in tighter to his warmth, uselessly attempting to stifle a yawn. Sebastian brought his other arm up to wrap around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

“Why would my father do this? Why would he go against what he believed? I don’t understand. I don’t want to have to choose,” she murmured. There was no choice. She knew she’d been kidding herself. Draven was right: hate and love were two sides of the same coin. She had been such a fool. Not that she was in love with Sebastian. They had been spending so much time together she had grown attached to him without realizing it. If she was to choose, she would choose to stay with him. But Draven had made himself clear. He wanted her to barter herself for peace, a tentative peace that she had to hold onto at any cost. So there was no choice.

Candra hadn’t noticed Sebastian stiffen under her until he spoke quietly.

“I’m not good, Candra. You should know this about me. There’s a monster inside me that has never been allowed to be laid to rest. I would kill again in a heartbeat, if I had to. You see this body and this face, but you can’t see the ugliness that’s inside. I’ve been a black cloud over everything and everyone I’ve ever come into contact with through my entire existence. You see a storm as a shelter.”

“My eyes are open. I see you,” Candra assured him. She wasn’t under any misconception about Sebastian. She saw him for what he was from the beginning. There was a darkness and sadness inside him that was almost overwhelming, but at other times, looking at him was like trying to focus on the sun: unbearably, dazzlingly bright and beautiful.

“That’s beyond anything I have the right to ask for from you.”

He relaxed once more, and his breathing softened. Candra yawned again. She would have to get up soon and felt as if she had hardly slept. “Where is God in this? How could he just leave you here all this time? What about the Devil?”

“God, or the Arch, was the very first of us. He is there somewhere, but I’d like to believe he’s simply forgotten about us.”

By his tone and the way he said he would like to believe it, Candra suspected he didn’t.

“As for the Devil…Lucifer, who God loved above all others.” He laughed bitterly and sighed before continuing. “We are the light, Candra, the light bringers. The first Watchers brought the darkness to the world, and we returned it to the light. We were the ones loved above all others, for what we did.”

Candra’s sleepy brain worked hard to grasp what Sebastian was explaining. She wasn’t sure she was getting it right, because she’d thought it was the other way around. Before speaking to Draven, she thought those like Sebastian, the Nuhra, were the light because they were first, but she was wrong. Everything Candra knew from the past was confused and mixed up. Nothing she had ever learned truly prepared her for the things she was learning and experiencing now. The Nuhra were the most loved and cherished of all the angels before they came to earth, but they were not the first Watchers. If Lucifer was the second wave of Watchers…

Sebastian’s voice was grievous and barely audible when he finally confessed, “We are Lucifer.”

If life was a rich tapestry, elaborately woven with colors and textured yarns, full of intricate details mapping out every moment of our existence, then could it be said that one slipped stitch or one knot out of place could alter the entire design beyond recognition? Sebastian pondered it as the perfect metaphor for his life.

He awoke stiff and aching from a heavy slumber, heavier than he had known in, possibly, forever. The reason for his nocturnal oblivion was still cradled, asleep in his arms, wrapped around his bare chest as if he might disappear with the sunrise. Sebastian guessed his peaceful hours came because he was physically holding onto the precious bounty he was protecting. Holding her so close meant no one could steal her in the night. He shifted a little to alleviate the ache at the bottom of his spine from the metal bars at his back. They hadn’t fallen asleep in the most comfortable of positions.

He expected guilt to hit him in the cold light of day, but there wasn’t so much as a trace. She believed the act so easily, being nice was exhausting for him, but Candra believed he was revealing his feelings for her.

The first level in his assault was complete. Sebastian planned to make Candra believe the choice was not about the Nephilim, but simply a choice between Draven and him. He cared about another war erupting; the idea was repulsive to him, but not as much as bowing down to Draven. Draven was insane if he thought Sebastian would willingly allow him to take Candra. His rational mind knew he was acting crazy and that his absolute priority should be to protect human kind from the scourge that once threatened to wipe them out…but his rational mind wasn’t screaming loud enough.

Candra moaned lightly and turned toward him, her soft lips brushing against his skin just the way she had done during the night. It sent a surge of heat through his body directly to his groin; his nerves vibrated under her mouth.

Thank you, morning, Sebastian thought.

While he froze with horror at the reaction she could stimulate, her hands slipped out and tenderly caressed his body from his waist up, over his chest and into the hair at the nape of his neck, pushing her fingers through it. Her body curved further toward Sebastian, pressing her barely covered breasts against him.

He knew that wasn’t good. It was one thing to charm her from under Draven’s nose, but his own attraction for her was a mistake. He could deny it to himself all he wanted to, but it was there. Right there. The way his body reacted and the way he wanted to act on it wasn’t good.

A few minutes later, Sebastian had managed to maneuver Candra into a more comfortable sleeping position and was leaving…okay, running away, but it was far better than the alternative as far as he was concerned.

Lofi was waiting, complete with uniform and stern face at the end of the stairway. “Do you see this face?” she demanded, clearly agitated.

“Excuse me?” Sebastian asked as he reached the bottom and put his jacket on.

She slapped her hand down hard on the newel. “Covering up another ripped shirt will not make this go away!”

He shrugged brusquely to settle the jacket on his shoulders. Sebastian could understand Lofi feeling a little left out. He knew he hadn’t been spending a lot of time with her lately; they were more or less playing tag team, but he wasn’t going to let anyone tell him what he should or shouldn’t do.

“You know, all I keep hearing from everyone is what won’t fix this, what won’t make it better. Why don’t one of you geniuses come up with something that will work? Right now, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but at least I’m doing something. Which is a whole lot more than the rest of you can say,” he shouted back at her angrily. It felt foreign to be shouting at Lofi, almost like an out-of-body experience. So much of his behavior was uncharacteristic these days.

“This,” Lofi yelled, pointing at her face again.

Sebastian was worried she would wake Candra, who’d had a late night and needed sleep.

“It takes one hundred and seven muscles to frown and only four to smile.” Lofi reached out quickly, and before he had time to react, pinched his arm…hard.

“Ouch!” he spat out. “That hurts.” For such a little thing, she had an amazingly strong grip. “As well as being a gross exaggeration.”

“It’s over, Sebastian. If Draven has given her a choice, you have to let her take it.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” he fired back stubbornly, wondering what in the Arch’s name was she suggesting. He couldn’t believe Lofi thought he would just allow Candra to walk away.

Without warning she reached up and swiped him viciously across the head.

“What the…”

“Think, Sebastian…I tried to talk to you about all of this. I’ve tried to be nice about it. I’ve tried to get you to see sense.”

“You really need to stop hitting me,” Sebastian cautioned her, rubbing his smarting scalp.

“Are you really that obtuse? Do you think any of us want this? Do you think that turning your big browns on that girl will make it any easier when she has to go to him? Is she worth a war? Are you prepared to kill for her?” Lofi demanded irately. “Do you think she will thank you for it? Do you think she will love you for starting a war?”

He could hear movement from upstairs, as well as from the rear of the house where the kitchen was situated. He guessed both Candra and Brie were awake by now and very likely listening to Lofi’s rant. The truth was that he had turned his feelings off. For so long Sebastian was able to lock everything away so he didn’t have to deal with guilt or loneliness. He’d had Brie and then Lofi, and there were always the others, the human women he kept company with from time to time…not forgetting Ananchel, of course, but this was different.

It was so far removed from any other situation he had ever been in; it was like trying to compare a sparrow to an eagle. Candra was not meant to be with Draven. For the first time in his seemingly endless existence, Sebastian was sure of one thing and was trying to do something right—something that he felt was right down to his very bones—and he was being belted with obstacles at every turn. He didn’t want war, but he couldn’t walk away.

“Why can’t you just admit you want her and that it’s sheer human jealously spurring you on?” Lofi narrowed her eyes accusingly.

Sebastian heard a door upstairs open, and his stomach lurched. Lofi was about to ruin everything. Candra would know last night was nothing but an act to win her over. He approached Lofi and stood over her, bending his knees so he was eye-level.

“Because I’m not human.” Sebastian paused and sucked a breath in through his clenched teeth. “You need to stay out of this,” he growled.

Lofi boldly pursed her lips, refusing to back down. “I can’t. This involves all of us. You knew it would come to this. We all did. Now it has; there is nothing we can do. Have you even stopped to consider she may want him, that she may want to be with them?”

Rage made his stomach clench, and his limbs stiffened. He felt his heart pound through the artery in his neck. He didn’t want to consider the possibility she may want Draven, because it wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. He heard footsteps pad across the floor above them and pause at the top of the stairs.

Sebastian froze; thinking fast normally wasn’t a problem. If he could only go back in time a few years or even a few months, he would know exactly the right words to placate Lofi. Right now he couldn’t think of anything other than a promise to stay away from Candra, and that wasn’t going to happen.

“Where are you going?” Lofi called after Sebastian as he stormed past her and out the door.

“To find a way to make Draven change his mind,” he responded in a snarled whisper, not caring if Lofi heard or not.

The only thing Candra got to hear clearly was the slamming of the door. When she peeked down the stairs, she saw Lofi shuffling out the door in a hurry.

Candra dressed quickly, doing her very best to stay in the moment and not revert to dissecting what happened the night before with Draven or Sebastian, thinking there really was no point. These evolving feelings she was harboring toward Sebastian were futile. She wouldn’t and couldn’t allow the Watchers to believe the covenant was broken, but neither could she understand why Draven would want her.

She made her way to the kitchen, following the scent of cooling oatmeal. The kitchen, like the other rooms in the house, only contained what was necessary. There were no gadgets or utensils lying around that would never be used. There were no impulse-and-later-regretted buys. Just simple, pale wood cabinets, a black marble worktop, a small herb garden box in the window for color, chrome appliances, and a range where Brie stood dishing up a bowl of sweetened oatmeal. The round table was set for two, and Candra noticed a white letter envelope sitting across the setting she presumed was for Brie. She sat down and sipped from the glass of juice in front of her.

“I don’t suppose you know what that was about, do you?” Candra asked quietly as she fiddled with a napkin, rolling it through her fingers.

Brie turned with two bowls in hand and sat at the other seat.

“Hmm.” Candra sighed as the sweet aroma of cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins hit. Her stomach let out a low gurgle, reminding her of how little she had eaten the day before. As far as she was concerned, the ultimate comfort foods were oatmeal and chicken noodle soup, though not at the same time—hot in winter and room temperature in summer. Her reaction always made Brie smile; today was no different.

“I thought you could use the sugar after yesterday.” Brie smirked, ignoring her question.

Candra picked up her spoon and dug into her sticky breakfast. “I’m guessing they were fighting over me,” she pushed, unwilling to just let it go.

Brie didn’t answer, instead taking a mouthful of food and looking ahead, completely avoiding the question.

Candra dropped her spoon by the side of the bowl sharply. “Okay, that is it. You can’t keep ignoring this or pretending it’s not happening. I just want you to talk me,” she pleaded. “I have some pretty big stuff going on, and I need you. I need your help and your guidance, and instead of giving it to me, you are just disappearing into a shell.”

Very calmly, Brie laid her spoon down, took a sip of juice, and dabbed at her lips. Then she interlaced her fingers on the table in front of her, keeping her expression carefully guarded. All the while Candra stared at her, dumbfounded. It was like looking at someone she didn’t even know. She wanted to shake Brie and could feel her frustration ready to explode. Her heart began to race, and she clenched the napkin tighter in her hands, ready to throw it down and storm out. Until suddenly Brie let out a long weary sigh, and her shoulders drooped.

“You’re right,” she agreed in a small voice, catching Candra a little off guard. “You are absolutely right. I’ve been hiding, hoping I can make this easier on myself when I should have been thinking of you.”

“It’s okay,” Candra reassured her, reaching out to lay her hand over Brie’s. At the same time she mentally kicked herself because it wasn’t okay; it was as far from okay as anything could possibly get. But her response was a reflex.

Brie patted Candra’s hand with her own softly and offered a weak smile. “No, Candra. You’re right. It’s not okay. I haven’t been here for you, and it stops today. You tell me what you want to know or what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.”

Candra felt a small twist in her stomach. This was not the strong confident Brie she knew. But at least she was nearer to it.

Candra leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and raking her fingers through her hair. “I’m confused,” she admitted. “I don’t understand why my father would do this, why you would. Draven told me I was hidden to protect me from Sebastian. Is that true? You left him. You left Gabe too. I would have to be oblivious not to pick up the vibes between you two.” She looked up to Brie hopefully, waiting for an answer.

Brie smiled a little and reached forward to pull Candra’s hand from her hair, and handed her the spoon sitting by her bowl. “I’m so sorry, Candra. But you know the truth is I hoped we would never have to tell you any of this. It was all so simple. Your father loved your mother. They had a sweet brief affair, and you were the result. Payne didn’t tell me everything. He promised he would when the time was right, said he was protecting me in case it went wrong. The only thing I knew was that you had to be protected…at all costs.”

Candra felt a sharp sting at the back of her eyes. This wasn’t going to get her any nearer to answers at all, but she could see Brie was telling the truth. Brie didn’t know any more.

“You trusted him enough to give up everything, when you didn’t know the reason?”

Brie nodded.

“Sebastian, in the hospital, you thought he would kill me?”

She grimaced, as if Candra had slapped her, and her eyebrows pulled down into a scowl. Her hands trembled almost indiscernibly, and she pulled them below the table quickly, but not so quickly Candra didn’t see.

“I didn’t know what he would do. We’ve all done terrible things in the name of mankind.”

Candra recoiled at the abrupt flashback in her head: Brie standing triumphantly over the dead baby, and she had to remind herself it wasn’t just a baby; it was a monster. She swallowed thickly and reached into her pocket, finding the small stone and running her thumb over the smooth surface to remind herself they were just as capable of great kindness and healing, as well as the brutality she had witnessed and heard about.

“But he didn’t hurt me, the opposite…he’s done nothing but try to protect me. You had to have known he wouldn’t hurt me.”

Brie shook her head sadly. “Because you want to believe it, you think that it must be true. The truth is that you don’t know what he is capable of given the right set of circumstances. I doubt he knows what he is capable of.”

Candra stood abruptly, and her chair scrapped across the floor as it pushed back. Hadn’t she been convinced Sebastian was dangerous? She was scared that first day, but now…Candra couldn’t imagine the possibility Sebastian would ever have hurt her. He said so last night. He said he couldn’t hurt her, and she believed him.

“You’re defending him now?” Brie raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“No,” Candra shot back defiantly and slumped back into her seat, trying to give the appearance of remaining calm. “I…we…” She stumbled over her words, feeling the blush rise in her cheeks. “We are friends now, that’s all.”

The raised eyebrow was still there, taunting Candra as she absentmindedly fingered the open fold of the envelope. Brie’s eyes tightened, and her head tilted. Even in her peripheral vision, Candra could see Brie observing her.

“Hey.” Lofi appeared at the doorway to the kitchen with a bright smile in place.

“What were you arguing with Sebastian about?” Candra asked her immediately. “Was it about me?”

“Honestly, Candra, what makes you think it was about you?” She beamed innocently.

Candra stood and brought her half-eaten bowl to the sink, turning her back on them. “Please, Lofi, are we going to keep pretending? I know.”

“You know what?”

“I know everything!” Candra turned sharply, frowning and curling her fingertips into the ridge of the sink at her back.

Lofi laughed brightly and stepped to the side of the table to pick up an apple and began to toss it hand to hand. “I seriously doubt it. No one knows everything.”

“This is just ridiculous,” Candra said, throwing her arms up into the air. She forced out a breath through pursed lips in an effort to calm herself. Above all she needed to remain calm. She refused to give anyone the opportunity to accuse her of being too overwrought to understand what was going on around her. Her back teeth clenched so tightly her jaw ached, but she remained in control. “I healed Sebastian last night. I healed him with my father’s stone. Shouldn’t that mean something to you people? Sebastian seemed to think it did.”

Both their faces paled significantly at her revelation, and she caught Brie placing her hand over the envelope, attempting to inconspicuously slide it off the table.

“What’s that?”

“It’s nothing,” Brie said nonchalantly, waving Candra away.

“More secrets.” It was pointless, useless, beyond stupid. While Candra accepted they thought they were protecting her, the only thing they were accomplishing was pushing her away. Regardless of how calmly and maturely she presented herself, none of it made a difference. She made to storm out of the room, but Lofi caught her arm tightly. For such a little thing, she had a cast iron grip, and it was locked around Candra’s arm.

“What?” Candra forced out through gritted teeth, feeling the nerves vibrate inside her body. She needed to get out into the fresh air where she could breathe without tightness in her chest.

“The other Nephilim couldn’t heal, Candra. So how can you? It’s not a secret, just something we weren’t expecting and have no answer for.” Lofi turned so she wasn’t looking at Candra. Candra only saw Lofi’s profile, the slight dusky rose blush that spread over her cheeks and the glimmer of gold that caught in her eyes. “Show her, Brie,” she instructed solidly, leaving no room for argument.

Brie shuffled the envelope under the table, hesitating, but not refusing the instruction.

“If you don’t tell her, Sebastian will. I believe he is feeling quite ruthless at the moment,” she finished darkly. It was suddenly like all the golden sunlight that had been flooding in from the windows was sucked from the room, leaving a dark gloomy shadow hanging over them.

Brie took the envelope out and placed it on the table, keeping her fingers lightly pressed to it. The two deep frown lines had returned over the bridge of her nose. She looked around guardedly, which in turn made Candra glance around the room too, as if someone would pounce out of one of the cupboards and snatch it from her hand. Candra shrugged Lofi’s hand away and gingerly approached the innocuous looking and obviously offensive envelope, sliding it out from under Brie’s grasp. Her stepmother stood immediately, her eyes damp from the tears she was holding back, and tucked a stray lock of hair behind Candra’s ear.

“You know, I don’t know where the years have gone. I feel like I’ve been barely awake and time has drifted away from me.” She smiled with trembling lips.

Candra narrowed her eyes, confused. “What is this?” she asked, shaking it lightly. The paper was thick and clearly expensive. The heavy fibers of the bleached white envelope were rough against her skin.

“It’s an invitation to a ball,” Lofi offered from behind them.

“I really don’t understand.” Candra pulled out the white beveled card from inside and ran her fingers lightly over the embossed writing inviting her to the main hall. She presumed that was the ballroom she had been in the day before.

“It came with a letter from Draven explaining his offer,” Brie said in a hushed voice.

“Oh.” Candra shrugged, turning it over. “I guess Draven wants to show me off…but then you knew that would happen, didn’t you?”

Lofi and Brie exchanged a concerned glance but said nothing. Candra tossed the card on the table. She felt strong for the first time, knowledgeable. She knew what was expected of her, and now she had a date, so she knew when too. Knowledge is power…right? She had four weeks, four more weeks of her life belonging to her.

“I get it. Some of it at least. You thought no one would ever have to know. You thought in the same place where it all began was the last place they would look for me. I get that Draven is the type of guy—” Candra used her fingers to make quotation marks and ignored Lofi. She rolled her eyes when Lofi chuckled. “—being…whatever, who likes to think he had one over on everyone else. But this is my life…my life. No more lies, no more half-truths. I decide. From now on, I decide. So tell me, what else don’t I know?”

Brie rolled her shoulders back and sniffled away the almost-shed tears. “Nothing. There is nothing. Everything I know, you know.” She lifted her hand and rubbed Candra’s arm up and down roughly before Candra leaned forward, pulling her into a hug.

“I love you, and I’m grateful for everything you have done, but this is my path to follow. You have to let me follow it.”

She felt Brie nod against her cheek and hugged her tighter. Her heart faltered. “Anything you would like to add, Lofi?” Candra lowered the tone of her voice minutely, just to let Lofi know she meant business.

“There is something I think you should know. I can talk to you on the way to our first lecture.”

Candra pulled back from Brie and looked to Lofi casually leaning against the door frame. “Uh uh…not anymore. No one will touch me…right? At least for now?” Lofi nodded. “Then you can go back to doing whatever it is you did before, because I don’t need shadows anymore.”

Lofi looked down and shook her head, glancing back up to Candra from under thick eyelashes. “How about today you indulge me. We need to talk.”

Finally Candra was getting somewhere. She couldn’t actually jump for joy about the information she was acquiring, but at least it was something—at least it was the truth. Lofi told her about Sebastian and his plan. Candra wasn’t angry or, surprisingly, even shocked that Sebastian would try to keep her away from Draven any way he could, even going to the extremes of being nice to her…of “turning her head” as Lofi put it so eloquently. They were basically the same animal—Draven and Sebastian—both believing so violently that their way was the only way and that their solution was the only one.

Any hope she had that Draven would simply get bored of her and move on were dashed to smithereens by Lofi. Draven had apparently never taken a partner before, which Candra found hard to believe. The fact that he had chosen her, coupled with the finality of her life, Lofi assured her, meant he would keep her with him to her dying breath.

Candra didn’t want Lofi to tell Sebastian she knew what he was up to. It served no purpose. Sebastian would still try to convince her, and she would still only have a month…four weeks, twenty eight days…hardly a wrinkle in time to him, but to Candra, it was an eternity. At least this way he would be nice to her for the duration, she consoled herself. She couldn’t deny that her fascination with understanding him still festered like a scab she couldn’t help picking at, even though she knew it would hurt in the end. She felt entitled to a peek inside his head, since he had been in her life for six months without her knowledge. She was just beginning to get to know him. She didn’t want to stop, and she was sure, even though she didn’t tell Lofi, that at least some of his feelings for her were real. They had to be. Deep down, where his heart resided, strangled up in thorny vines of guilt, anger, fear, and longing, there lay something deeper in him, something that he couldn’t see but she could. Candra suspected he couldn’t admit he liked her because he didn’t believe he deserved it.

Sebastian was the wallflower at a party, believing he didn’t truly belong there, that his presence was never entirely welcome. He watched from a distance and petulantly refused to admit that he yearned to join in…yearned to be expected or wanted.

Chapter Twelve

“No, thank you. I told you, I am never touching that stuff again,” Candra said, politely declining Draven’s offer of a drink. He was pouring from a bottle this time, the same amber liquid but retrieved from the fridge in the kitchen of his apartment.

“You said ‘something strong,’” he teased with the same sexy smirk he turned on her every time he offered. This wasn’t a meeting, like the first time they met. It was a date of sorts, or what passed for a date during the last few weeks, given their strange set of circumstances.

“Strong, not hallucinogenic.”

He chuckled, spinning the cap back onto the bottle and replacing it in the fridge. Draven kept an apartment in the building where the ball would be held. In fact, all the apartments and offices in the immense building belonged to him. Most of them were occupied, especially now when the number of Watchers in Acheron was still growing.

Candra still didn’t remember her first journey here, but it was different now. Apparently Draven had trust issues about where he stayed. Who could blame him after the way Sebastian stormed in when he found out where they were? The building was located in an affluent part of the city occupied by business types and the wealthier end of society.

Draven’s apartment was large and decorated in a modern, tasteful way with floor-to-ceiling windows in every room, looking out over the city. In a way, it reminded Candra of a king surveying his territory, a little conceited. It was not overly ostentatious, apart from his kitchen, which had been designed for a person who liked to cook, as Draven obviously did. There were masses of storage and glass-fronted cabinets where his ingredients and equipment were readily visible.

She was chopping tomatoes for a salad after watching him expertly prepare lasagna. She narrowly missed her finger with the sharp blade because she found it hard not to look at his tightly rounded, denim-clad ass as he bent to take fresh crusty bread from the oven. Like before, he was barefoot.

“Draven,” she called to attract his attention as he placed the tray of baguettes on the counter island. “I’m enjoying this whole romantic set up thing you have going on here.” He flashed a gleaming smile, and she swallowed, taking a sip from her glass of cola to wet her suddenly dry lips. “We both know you have me.” He frowned, taking off his oven gloves. “Whatever you want to call it, you’ve won. Why do you care if I like you?”

He sauntered toward Candra and stopped the opposite on side of the counter she was working on, popping a piece of tomato into his mouth and chewing. Candra widened her eyes to indicate his lopsided grin wasn’t enough of an answer.

“I haven’t won anything, Candra. When you accompany me to the ball and promise your loyalty, it will be the happiest night of my life. You can’t blame me for wanting you to be at least a little happy too. I don’t want you to be with me under duress.”

Candra sighed heavily and scooped the tomatoes up in her palms, scattering them in the bowl. “I hate to break it to you, but telling me you’ll allow your people to unleash Armageddon on the city unless I play house is duress. You’re not a bad person, Draven; I know there is more to what is going on here than you are telling me.”

He shrugged, picking up a mushroom and chewing it. “I hope that when the time comes for you to choose, you will at least like me. I think if you give me the chance, you will.”

“I’ve chosen.”

“No, you haven’t. You only think you have.” He grinned. “But you will.”

She grimaced disapprovingly and carried the bowl of salad over to the island where the bread was and where they would be eating. “Always so cryptic, Draven.”

He chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair, the action pulling his worn white T-shirt up, revealing the sprinkling of dark hair across his stomach. “Always so inquisitive, Candra.” He followed her over and took the stool beside her before he commenced slicing up the lasagna which, she had to grudgingly admit, smelled divine.

“So what do you do, Draven? How have you spent all your time when you aren’t trying to get me drunk and seduce me? I imagine living forever gets boring,” Candra asked curiously.

He grimaced and rolled his eyes at her directness. “As boring or as exciting as you want it to be, and you know we don’t live forever,” he retorted, shoveling a mound of the deliriously fragrant cheesy mass onto her plate.

“Forever, unless you are mortally wounded?”

He nodded. “I’ve been a lot of things in my life, a scholar, an artist, a doctor…a priest,” he finished with an amused expression. Candra presumed he was trying to goad a reaction from her.

She was surprised, but beginning to understand that they infiltrated all walks of life, even religious.

“Right now, I’m involved in a trust that is financially responsible for many charitable causes.”

“Why?” Candra pushed, putting her napkin up to her mouth because she forgot she shouldn’t talk with her mouth full. Chewing cow wasn’t a good look.

“Why what?”

“Why help humanity if you think so little of it being destroyed in your war that you would risk me refusing you?”

“I never said I think little of it. I think of little else.” There was an undercurrent of restrained anger in his tone, and she wondered if he was trying to hide it from her.

“You will live as long as your body doesn’t get damaged. I have that much right at least?”

“Pretty much, but of course there are the stones. We can’t heal ourselves properly though.” His shoulders settled. It seemed to her she had easily managed to distract him from his brief moment of annoyance.

“But another Watcher could use their stone on you? Or if you have a minor injury, then you could heal yourself?”

Draven nodded, and Candra didn’t add that she had already managed to use her father’s stone. It somehow still felt like a private moment between Sebastian and her, something she shouldn’t share. She even felt a little strange that she had blurted it out in front of Brie and Lofi. It was like the feeling of dreaming that you are walking on a busy street and looking down to realize you were naked. They didn’t know why or how she could do it, and she felt she had unwittingly exposed something she should have kept to herself.

“Is that what Ananchel was doing the day I fell, testing a theory…seeing if I carried angel’s blood?”

Draven grimaced and pursed his lips as if he was considering something, then took a long sip of his brandy. The silence sounded distinctly like a blaring white noise…a stall, and so instead of waiting for him to answer, Candra returned to her food.

She was actually enjoying it a great deal. Draven knew his way around a kitchen. Although it was probably easy to be good at everything given enough time and practice. The thought made her cheeks flood with heat as she wondered what else Draven was well-practiced in. Even if he hadn’t had a mate, she was sure there must have been women in his life. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his smug grin; he missed nothing.

“Ananchel was only playing that day.”

“Really?” Candra raised her eyebrows, roughly tearing off a piece of the still-warm bread to sop up the tomato sauce.

“Yes, really,” Draven responded firmly, pushing his plate away, appearing to lose interest after only a few bites of food. “Please believe me, Candra, we are not murderers. Ananchel is a law unto herself at times, but I know her. She was just playing with you—she does it to everyone. I know she respects you for standing up to her. I think she even likes you, actually. She can’t have any effect on those who aren’t open to her. She would have healed you herself if the others hadn’t come along.”

Candra hummed dubiously. “I’ve seen what she can do. I’ve felt it…and at the party…what she did to Sebastian…” She shuddered at the memory.

He chuckled, shaking his head, and she looked back down to her plate. She didn’t enjoy being mocked.

“You are young. Your body is full of hormones, and you are excited easily. Maybe already a little excited from an earlier encounter that evening?”

Again, the slow blush was rising from her chest. I really wish he would stop that.

“Now you know her limitations: she can’t touch you. Sebastian, on the other hand…it seems he isn’t entirely finished enjoying Ananchel—”

“You call that enjoying?” She cut him off briskly.

“I call that ex-sex.”

Candra opened her mouth to say something but was struck dumb when it hit her like a barrel to the chest. Ananchel and Sebastian. Her stomach twisted, and she thought she might be sick…Sebastian and Ananchel.

Clearly judging by her shocked expression, Draven knew she wasn’t going to speak and went on. “Some physical connections can be quite intense and hard to let go of. For years, Sebastian told her every time was the last time and then came back for more. Ananchel won’t bother him again, now she knows he really doesn’t want it.”

Lofi had told her Ananchel didn’t hold back; she hadn’t told her it was because it was some depraved game of cat and mouse between the two of them, that he wanted Ananchel to do it to him. Candra wanted to make some sharp retort to show Draven that she didn’t care, that it didn’t bother her in the slightest, but absolutely nothing came to mind, and she did care. In fact she cared a great deal, because it was Sebastian, and he belonged with her…except she knew he didn’t, and she intended to promise to be with Draven.

“How close are you?” Candra probed bitterly, beginning to get the impression that any man interested in her had already experienced Ananchel in full, glorious Technicolor.

In a flash, Draven turned her seat to face him, gripping it on either side of her hips with his legs trapping hers. She gasped in a breath in shock at his unexpected movements. His wide, dark eyes shone with speckles of gold, and Candra was so close she could clearly make out the blood pounding under the tanned skin of his throat below his ear. His piercing gaze darted to her lips and back to her eyes. Candra could feel the energy sizzle between them. Draven smirked devilishly.

“Are you jealous?”

Candra attempted to swivel her seat away from him, trying her utmost to appear unaffected by his nearness, but it was difficult. She was affected…again. Every drop of fiery blood coursing through her body to gather in the pit of her stomach told her so. She gulped loudly and felt the hairs on the backs of her arms bristle; she wasn’t jealous, at least not for the reasons she presumed Draven would want to believe. She was jealous of Ananchel because when Ananchel wanted something she went after it. She was fearless with men. Unlike Candra.

With Draven, there was an animal attraction between them, a deep basic instinct to fulfill the desire Candra felt for him physically. With Sebastian, there was also a strong physical attraction, coupled with the emotional connection that was growing between them unbounded. Yet, she stood between them, confused and scared to act on either.

Draven moved closer, shifting forward until her knees brushed the inseam of his jeans. If she didn’t stop him, he would kiss her. She hated that one part of her was so curious to know what it would feel like, but that there was the other part that knew it wasn’t Draven that she really wanted to kiss. Candra lifted her hand quickly, blocking him by pressing her hand into his solid chest, and at the same time she leaned away from him.

“Wait.”

He hesitated and leaned away, in the process loosening his grip on her stool.

“Are you doing this? Is it real?”

He looked deeply offended—wounded even—and moved back to his previous position at the counter. “I crossed my heart, didn’t I? I’m not sure what other assurance I can offer. I’ve already said I wouldn’t use my persuasion on you.” He proceeded to take an exaggerated swig from his glass, and another puzzle piece shifted into place for Candra.

Draven wasn’t used to hearing no.

“I’m sorry,” she defended sternly. “It’s just…not only am I not sure who I can trust, now I’m also afraid to trust my own feelings, or my own body, for that matter.”

He looked at her sideways, all the fire obliterated from his eyes, leaving them looking like black ice in an ocean of navy. “Why? Because you want to kiss me? It may surprise you to know that plenty of women do want to kiss me of their own volition.” He got up and grabbed his plate, taking it to the sink.

“Maybe that’s what’s confusing then,” Candra offered, frowning.

He spun on the balls of his feet and raised his eyebrows, looking confused.

“You’re rich, attractive—” Candra stopped when he scowled at her choice of words, like a little kid being refused ice-cream. She smiled. “Okay, you are very attractive…better?” He nodded, pacified, and she continued. “You’ve been around forever, so you’ve had plenty of time to experience life and to learn about…well, basically everything. I don’t—and I say this, not putting myself down in the slightest, because let’s face it, I’m fairly fabulous—”

Draven crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his lips together to stifle a chuckle, making Candra’s smile wider.

“Why, out of all the women who must hurl themselves at you on a daily basis, would you choose me, someone who’s indifferent to you, someone who is only with you because you aren’t giving me any other choice?”

He sighed deeply, still smiling and looking down at his wriggling toes. “You’re right…”

Her brow creased; for some insane reason she didn’t expect him to agree with her. He was the one offering, requesting…demanding her presence, she justified. He bit the side of his lip on the inside and looked up at her through those thick eyelashes of his and smirked, making her stomach instantly somersault.

“I could have women, if I wanted that, but why would I? Emotionless physical relationships are not for me. You are an enigma, Candra.” Draven paused and rubbed the back of his neck. “You are quite the most intriguing creature it has ever been my experience to encounter. I consider you a challenge.”

Candra stood and began to clear the table, unsure if she should be offended or pleased by Draven’s assessment of her. And what was that about emotionless physical relationships? Why not come out cleanly and say that is where he was insinuating Sebastian’s interests lay?

“A challenge? Just something to be broken in, is that what I am? Not exactly words to sweep a girl off her feet.”

Candra didn’t see him move or feel him come from behind her until she felt his hot breath on her cheek. His face was at her shoulder, and his hard chest pressed to her back. His thumb slowly grazed across her hip, and his voice was as smooth as melting ice next to her ear.

“No, Candra. You are a beautiful flower…the most beautiful flower, and you need the correct care and attention to blossom to your full potential. I want to help you discover what we can achieve together. I have been waiting for you for a thousand lifetimes. You have no concept of how much I need you to want me.”

His breath tickled against her heated skin, smelling of brandy, fresh bread, and garlic.

“That’s better,” Candra told him through a shaky breath, questioning whether he knew the effect he had on her insides, making them swirl and melt. She hated that Draven wasn’t going to be so easy to dismiss.

Lofi pulled up at the curb the very moment Candra walked from the building. The concierge nodded graciously, a custom she had yet to get used to. She nodded back awkwardly and rushed to the waiting car.

“You could have told me, Lofi.” She sighed grumpily, while trying her best to get her seatbelt locked before Lofi took off.

She was still trying as Lofi left smoke trails on the road.

“Now, which bit of information are we talking about? You know I could have told you a lot of things, but I was under gag orders from so many people that I lost track.”

“Ananchel and Sebastian.”

“I told you about them,” she answered quickly, weaving around several cars and leaving Candra bouncing in her seat. Lofi’s hair was back to being tinged with pink.

“You didn’t tell me they were an item.”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled lightly. “I would hardly have called them an item…but yes, at one time there was an agreement between them.”

“Ew.” Candra crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look out the window at the streets whizzing by.

“The thing with Ananchel was, she really didn’t know when to let go.” Lofi sighed. “Believe me, even when they were together, it wasn’t a pretty sight when he eventually managed to tear himself away.”

“I still say it’s ew.”

She laughed again. “I hope you aren’t jealous?”

Candra’s head whipped around to look at Lofi, but thankfully, given the speed they were traveling, she was watching the road. Candra looked away again, pulling her hair down over her cheeks that were beginning to exhibit a distinct rosy glow.

“Anyway,” Lofi went on, “what difference does it make? As soon as the ball is over, Sebastian will be out of your life. We’re leaving Acheron.”

“You’re leaving?” Candra squeaked in an embarrassing high voice.

“Sebastian and I are. Gabe is staying with Brie, until…well, he wants to be with her as long as he can.”

Candra stared ahead, pressing her hand to her chest—it suddenly felt constricted and hot, and her throat felt as if it was closing in.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lofi’s gaze flicker to her. “Really, Candra, do you even know what Draven’s plans are for you two? And did you think Sebastian would stick around to watch?”

Candra nodded sadly, reminded again that this was happening. It was really happening. This was no fairy tale princess ball; there was no happily ever after waiting for her when the clock struck twelve. This was real life, where time was infinite and there were no happy endings or absolutes. There would be too many people left to imagine the what-ifs.

Ivy was waiting on the steps outside the townhouse when they got home, currently sporting wavy red hair with thick chunks of auburn and chocolate worked through. It suited her. For the first time in a long time, Ivy looked like Ivy. She looked like Candra’s friend and not the girl who was trying to be a reflection of what people perceived her to be.

It suddenly flashed through Candra’s mind suddenly how similar their situations were—not that Ivy was being pressured to commit herself to the leader of a group of angels in order to prevent Armageddon, but just that they were both trying so hard to be what they were expected to be. It wasn’t because it would make them happy; it was simply because they couldn’t figure out another way to make sense of what was going on in their lives.

As Candra got out of the car, a sudden feeling of dread descended upon her. Ivy walked toward her, smiling brightly as always, except for the distrustful glance in Lofi’s direction. Candra was wondering if Draven expected her to leave Ivy behind too. Everyone seemed to think any relationships from her past would be severed. She was losing the only mother she’d ever known; she was losing several tentative friendships. Would she be expected to walk away from school, her friend…to leave everything? A pain twisted in the pit of her stomach. She already knew the answer—Draven expected her to start fresh, and there was no way that could happen here. It suddenly dawned on Candra that he could be planning to move her anywhere. She was too caught up in wondering why he wanted her to ask herself what he was going to do with her once he had her.

“Hey you.” Ivy grinned as Candra got closer.

“Hi,” she mumbled in return.

Ivy’s expression suddenly shifted to serious, her eyes darting between Lofi and Candra, and then Lofi leaned into Candra so Ivy couldn’t hear.

“The keeping-this-to-yourself thing?”

Candra tightened her eyes curiously.

“Screw it,” Lofi finished.

Candra frowned. Where could she even begin to explain to her friend what had been going on? How could she ever believe any of this?

“You need your friend now, Candra,” Lofi whispered. “She’s the only one you stand a chance of hanging onto in all this mess.” She smiled sadly and trotted up the steps, glancing quickly to them over her shoulder before going through the door.

Candra turned her face upward speculatively to the rooftops of the surrounding houses, seeing the guards still perched and watching her with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. It was like they were waiting, just as Draven had said. As if they expected her to explode at any moment. With a heavy sigh, she sank down onto one of the porch steps.

Ivy sat down beside her, glancing up at the rooftops, bemused because she could see nothing. “I think it’s time for you to talk about what’s going on.”

Candra let her head fall forward into her hands and laughed humorlessly.

“Candra?” Ivy asked worriedly.

Candra turned her head, resting it on her forearms across her knees. “Do you remember the story of Cassandra?”

Ivy’s mouth tightened, and she looked away briefly. Candra could see the cogs of her brain were working, trying to recall the story.

“The one cursed to see the future,” Candra prompted.

“Oh, yeah.” Ivy beamed, finally remembering. “She was given the gift of foresight by Apollo. She was a harbinger or something—”

“Or something. It was a curse,” Candra cut her off. “He wanted her, but she didn’t return his feelings, so she was cursed to know things, to see things…but no one would ever believe her. That’s how I feel right now.”

Ivy stared at Candra blankly, not understanding. Not that Candra expected her to.

“I’ve seen things, and I know what the future could become, unless I stop it…but no one can help me, even if I could get them to believe me.”

“What’s going on?” Ivy asked, irritated and scratching her head.

Candra groaned, shielding her eyes again.

“The thing about being given warnings about the future is you’ll never know if it’s self-fulfilling, like whether it happens because you know,” Ivy said.

Candra peeked up at her. “But that’s destiny, right? I mean…everything is so absolute.”

Ivy quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but the one thing I do know is that nothing is absolute. We have a choice. It’s the joy of being human…free will.”

Candra grunted and sank her face back into her arms.

Gabe walked out just then. He ruffled Candra’s hair, walking past. “Hello, Candra. How was your lunch date?”

She looked up to him, squinting. Looking at Gabe was like looking at one of those soft-toned light bulbs—just enough not to blind but enough to make it difficult not to look away. She couldn’t hold any of what was happening against him, as much as she wanted to blame someone.

“It was fine. How was yours?” Candra smirked and watched him scratch his neck awkwardly.

He and Brie were spending a lot of time together lately, and Candra was only a little conflicted about it. Gabe was a pretty straight up guy from what Candra knew of him, which was little. He played the part of big brother to Sebastian and Lofi. Sebastian obviously trusted him a great deal and valued his opinion. Clearly Gabe hadn’t expected Sebastian to argue with him when Gabe had wanted to tell her about the Watchers. Candra had concluded, based on that, Sebastian usually took his views into consideration.

It was Gabe that had picked up the slack and kept the Tenebras in line while Sebastian searched for Brie. He seemed shy in some ways and a little reserved, but with an intensity behind his eyes that warned he wasn’t one to mess with. Since the day Candra met him, he had never once tried to influence her decisions. His main goal appeared to be supporting Brie in any way he could. On one hand, Candra wanted Brie to have someone when she was gone. On the other, he was an angel, and no good could come of that. He would never age; their time together would be over in a blink of an eye…unless he fell. Angel relationships were a treacherous course to chart.

“Hmm, yeah,” was all he said, but his grin spoke volumes, clearly a success. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” Candra smiled sweetly, wriggling her fingers at him.

“What is it with you and the hotties these days?” Ivy asked, fanning her face. “This place is hottie central; maybe we should start having sleepovers again.”

Candra chuckled, nudging Ivy with her shoulder. “I think my room is overcrowded enough as it is with Sebastian sprawled all over it every night.” The words were out before she caught herself, and she scowled at her blunder when she heard Ivy’s shocked gasp.

It was too much to wish Ivy would miss Candra’s slip up.

“What? You’re sleeping with him?” Ivy demanded aghast. “Beautiful, creepy stalker guy?”

“No,” Candra squealed an octave higher than necessary. “Of course not.”

“But he sleeps in your room?” she pushed, wide-eyed.

Candra grimaced, which Ivy appeared to take as affirmation.

“I want to tell you about it, I just can’t. I don’t know where to start.”

“You can’t?” Ivy echoed dubiously. “Just can’t…just like that?”

“No.”

“We used to talk about everything,” she sighed, mirroring Candra’s stance so they were both resting their heads on their forearms and watching each other sideways.

Candra glanced up to the figures on the rooftops again and recalled how she had thought them gargoyles at first. Gargoyles were scary to her even now. They had terrified her as a child, and suddenly a memory came flooding back.

She and her father had been out taking a walk one winter. It had become dark early as it only could in the city. She was frightened by the gargoyles on one of the more darkly gothic houses in the vicinity of the park, convinced that its position had shifted and its head had turned to follow them. Even before that day, Candra had had dreams of the gargoyles in Acheron moving and had been convinced they were coming for her. She remembered her dad sweeping her up into his arms and promising her that they would never hurt her, that they were only dreams. He’d said the grotesque creatures only looked scary so that they could chase the really bad stuff away, and that they were really there to protect her.

“Earth to Candra,” Ivy called, snapping her fingers.

Candra blinked coming back from the memory and trying to shake off the sudden cold shiver she felt. Tears caught in her lashes. There was an idea floating around in the back of her subconscious, trying to force its way forward, and she really didn’t want to have to think about it. Was that a real memory? Did she really see angels, even then, or was it a dream as her father had said? She thought she was protected from seeing them. Was that just her mind playing tricks on her? If she did see them, who were they protecting her from? It all came back to Sebastian, always to him. Everything had been played out to keep her away from him, and yet now he was the one person Candra struggled to keep her distance from.

Lofi was right; she needed to talk to someone, someone who wasn’t caught up in all this madness.

“What would you do if something you thought wasn’t real—something you never truly believed ever existed—was?”

Ivy narrowed her eyes cynically. “What are we talking about here?”

“Angels…what if I told you angels were real, living breathing things, walking around city just like all of us? We just didn’t know it—hypothetically, of course.”

“Hypothetically—I’d say step away from the crazy buffet, you’re all full up.”

Candra laughed lightly at Ivy’s scrunched up face. She looked so young. She had her whole life ahead of her, Candra thought, free to make whatever choices she wanted, free to make mistakes and fall in love with someone she could share a life with. She had choices.

“Are you in love with him?” Ivy asked candidly, flicking her head softly so her hair swished over her shoulders.

Candra shook her head swiftly and frowned. She was frowning a lot these days.

“You’re lying,” she accused. “Candra, I’ve known you too long…and you didn’t ask who I was talking about.”

“I didn’t need to.” Candra pouted. “I’m not in love with anyone.”

Ivy nodded slowly with a knowing smirk. Candra rolled her eyes and stood up, brushing the dust off her ass and smoothing her jeans down harder than necessary.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Candra muttered. Now she’s being ridiculous.

Candra presumed it was the hopeful romantic in Ivy seeing couples at every turn.

“Where are you going now?” Ivy moaned. “You’re always running off somewhere.”

“I need to clear my head,” Candra told her. “I’m going for a walk.”

“And which hottie is it you are walking to? Beautiful, crazy stalker guy or smoking hot, older, mysteriously intense guy?”

Candra rolled her eyes again, as if she wasn’t being childish enough already. She knew she was running from the conversation because she wasn’t ready to admit anything yet, even to herself. She stuck out her tongue at Ivy before she turned on her heels.

Very suddenly Candra was overcome with an intense desire to see Sebastian. She had been planning to head to Draven and ask him about her memory. She had already discussed with him several of the strange dreams she had lately, but she wanted to see Sebastian. She turned quickly in the other direction toward Sebastian’s house. She had barely taken two steps under Ivy’s watchful eye when she realized she couldn’t ask Sebastian about this memory; all her nightmares recently were non-specific. What if she’d actually seen Watchers guarding her as a child? Which Watchers were protecting her then? Sebastian hadn’t known about her. If it was a memory her father was trying to talk her out of, did that mean Draven knew about her all along? Candra groaned at the questions swirling around her head. She lifted her shoulders and dropped them heavily as all the air deflated from her lungs, slowly turning yet again to catch Ivy watching her, bemused.

“What is wrong with you?” Ivy inquired.

“Shit, I don’t know what way is up anymore. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m being pulled in two different directions. One is sort of familiar and comfortable. I feel safe—most of the time, but I don’t know if I’m in a shelter or if I’m really just standing in the eye of the storm. The other I’m on the edge of a cliff with one foot hanging over the edge. It’s dangerous and exhilarating…and I’m afraid to close my eyes in case I fall, but I’m getting tired of fighting it.”

Ivy raised her eyebrows. “Wow. Profound.” She walked toward Candra and wrapped her arms around her. “Sometimes by leaving what you’ve always known and what is safe, you are actually headed in the right direction of where you need to be.”

“Huh?” Candra wondered aloud, thinking maybe Ivy didn’t get her analogy about Sebastian begin the storm and Draven being the cliff.

“You won’t get anywhere by standing still in a storm or on a cliff, no matter how safe it feels. You need to make your move. What do your instincts tell you to do?”

“That’s just it, I don’t know if I can trust them.”

“I trust you,” Ivy said assuredly. “You’ll do what’s right.”

Candra hugged her more tightly, grateful for Ivy’s faith in her. She just hoped it wasn’t unfounded.

Chapter Thirteen

Sebastian had been going over books in his library for hours—texts, histories, journals, anything he could get his hands on. It was just like any other day he’d spent recently, surrounded by the smell of wood polish, old leather, and yellowing pages. Stacks of useless information lay scattered across the mahogany desk. Moment by moment, it felt as if the tall bookcases surrounding him were closing in. He kept the heavy, forest green drapes closed, blocking out the daylight, the city…the future. There was nothing. He could find no loophole, nothing in the text of the covenant that he could use to get Candra out of this. It was hopeless, and yet he still couldn’t bring himself to give up hope. She didn’t want Draven; he couldn’t believe that she wanted him. Still, she was going to do this to keep the rest of them from harm’s way. As if Sebastian didn’t have enough reason to hate Draven, this provided him with one more. The worst part of it was that he understood why Draven wanted Candra. Sebastian knew his nemesis liked to think it was Sebastian keeping the animosity between them going, but that wasn’t true. Draven was the one that never gave up, and now he was using Candra. Still looking for a way to finish what they started, and just as Sebastian expected, he was powerless stop him.

“Hey.” Candra’s small voice called from the door, making him look up.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

It wasn’t the first night Candra had been back since the evening of the party. She liked to come and sit in the library; she was slowly working her way through all the photograph albums, saying it made her feel closer to them somehow, seeing them all in images.

“I wanted to see you.” She walked into the room, skimming her hand across the carving on the door and then dropping it by her side. Candra was dressed casually in jeans and a dark green shirt that made her pale skin take on an almost luminescent quality.

She looked tired, although Sebastian knew she had been sleeping. He was there every night. She was simply worn out from everything going on in her life and all the weird dreams that he guessed was her subconscious mind struggling to work through it. He knew how she felt; waiting for the future to arrive was like standing in the sand and waiting for a tide flowing toward the shore, knowing you’re completely incapable of stopping it.

“What are you doing?” Candra asked softly, coming to stand behind Sebastian and resting one hand on his shoulder.

Through the fabric of his shirt he could feel the heat of her flesh, and his nerves tingled, wanting more. His desire for her was getting harder and harder for him to dismiss.

He closed the leather-bound text he was reading with a quiet thump, feeling the frustration sizzle like acid in the pit of his stomach. “What I’ve been doing for the last three and a half weeks: trying to find you a way out of this deal with Draven.” Sebastian’s voice was harsher than he intended it to be, and Candra’s fingers tightened slightly before she released him.

“That’s what I want to talk to you about. Can we take a walk?”

Sebastian leaned back in the leather chair. His weight made the wood joints creak, and he swiveled to look up at her, crossing his hands over his stomach. Candra’s eyes were downcast, her tousled hair hanging loose like a curtain over her cheeks. When she pushed it behind her ears, she was frowning—nothing new. Sebastian hated seeing her frown. He clenched his fingers tighter to stop from reaching out and running his thumb across the line to smooth it out.

Then she bit the inside of her lip, tilting her head to the side. It was a look he knew too well, and he knew he was toast. Candra glanced up at him from under her eyelashes, all innocence and fury raging in the brown of her eyes. It was the same exquisite fire that he’d seen in her from the very first day, smoldering beneath the surface of her captivating exterior. He was so lost when she gave him that look.

Over the last three weeks Sebastian had finally accepted that his feelings might be a tad more confused than he had first been willing to admit. Candra had crawled under his skin. They spent time together every day, so it stood to reason they had become closer. Sebastian found it hard to define now exactly what they were. He wanted to be Candra’s friend, but he also wanted to touch her…all the time. It was strange because he had never felt that way before—and she let him touch her, which was unexpected. She seemed to welcome it. He would brush her hair over her shoulder with his fingers, pull her to him while he read to her, and they would sit on her bed, cut off from everything and everyone. She didn’t call him out once for his sudden change in behavior; she simply went along with it, no questions asked.

At times it was still hard to stay his quick temper. Candra could be infuriating. She was willful and quick witted, she asked questions constantly about everything and was like a sponge, greedily absorbing any information she received. He still wanted her to choose him; that much of his plan hadn’t altered. Lofi was right. It would probably mean war and lives lost. Sebastian knew he was being selfish in wanting to keep her with them, with him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to think that far ahead. He wanted to linger in the futile hope that the future wouldn’t happen.

Some leader I turned out to be.

“I know what you’ve been doing,” Candra scolded as they walked through the park.

It was more or less deserted, except for a few people out walking dogs or strolling after dinner. The evening was verging on darkness, and it had recently rained, forming puddles on the pathways and making the grass spongy where they walked. Sebastian raised an eyebrow, wondering if maybe he had spoken too soon about her never calling him out.

She sighed, clasping her hands behind her back and watching her feet. “You’ve been looking for a way out of the treaty because you think you’re still protecting me.”

Oh. “Yeah, but I haven’t been very successful.”

“I want you to stop.”

He froze, gawking at the back of her head. “Excuse me?” What in the Arch’s name could she be thinking?

She was still walking slowly, heel to toe. “I have decided to accept Draven’s offer without challenge. I’m going to do what he wants. I don’t want to fight it anymore.”

Sebastian couldn’t stop himself or even think about what he was doing. He put his hand on her arm, halting her and spinning her toward him. “What are you talking about? You’re just going to walk away?” he demanded, glaring at her.

“I have to. It’s going to happen. This is about more than what you or I want.”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

Candra scowled at her arm. Sebastian’s eyes flashed to see what she was seeing. His fingers wrapped so tightly around her upper arm that the skin around his fingernails was pressed white. He loosened it a little.

“You have to give me more time. I can find a way. You don’t have to walk away from everything,” he insisted sharply.

Candra’s expression was soft; a small blush rose on her cheeks as she very gently laid her hand over his, slipping her fingers one by one beneath Sebastian’s to release her arm. “It doesn’t matter how much time you have. There is no way out of this. I was his the moment I was conceived. The moment my father decided to go against the covenant, I became one of them.”

“You mean you want to be,” Sebastian snapped, drawing back from her touch.

Her hand floated in the air for a moment before she took it back to her chest, rubbing it absentmindedly, as if it had been burned. “Whether we want something to be true or not has no bearing on it. This isn’t about choices. Sometimes what is simply is, like the color of the ocean or the sun…even history. There are some things that can’t be changed. Draven is right. I just couldn’t see it before, or I didn’t want to. All the Watchers know about me; there are more arriving into the city every day. Tensions are beginning to build, and not just among Watchers. Violent crimes are rampant, break-ins, robberies. It’s almost like the people can sense the unrest. If I don’t do this, there will be a war. Draven is trying to protect everyone.”

“No!” Sebastian could feel his face tighten and the veins in his neck throb as his blood boiled. The very idea of Draven having Candra made him rage.

“Yes.”

“No,” he reiterated, pressing his hand to his chest because for some reason his heart felt like it was about to explode. His raised voice was loud enough to make a young woman cycling on the nearby path look over with an expression of distaste.

“Yes,” Candra repeated calmly. “It isn’t the worst case scenario, me being with Draven. I don’t believe he will treat me badly, and I think he really does care for me.”

“Sure,” he muttered cuttingly. “He cares for you so much that he is taking you away from the only mother you know and forcing you to be his mate.” He turned away, not willing to see the sadness in her eyes brought on by his biting words.

“I don’t think it’s like that for him, Sebastian.”

He wanted to shake her. Despite everything, Candra was still holding tight to the idea that there was more, that Draven had hidden reasons for doing what he was doing. He couldn’t make her believe that Draven was a bad guy. Sebastian reckoned Candra blamed his own longtime prejudices on a history that was no longer relevant. Draven was the one making history relevant by threatening to let it repeat.

“Explain to me how it is then? Because that’s what it looks like to me.” He bunched a clump of hair in his fist, pulling it until his scalp hurt, anything to take away the sharp pain cutting at his insides. Why did he even care? Why couldn’t he just walk away and be done with all of this? Oh, yeah, Brie. He was holding onto Candra for Brie. He repeated it over and over in his head as if it would make it miraculously true.

“I think Draven feels he has to do this. I think he wants something, but I can’t figure out what it is.”

Sebastian spun sharply, feeling grass squelch under his sneakers. “I could tell you.”

Candra flinched. He meant her to. Damn it all, he was so old that his existence seemed to stretch behind him for eternity, but he was behaving like a vicious teenage boy being dumped—even though that wasn’t the case at all because Candra was never his.

“It’s not like that,” she fired back, equally caustically.

Sebastian cocked an eyebrow disbelievingly. She frowned again and dipped her head. He could see she was blushing, and rage boiled up anew inside him at the idea of Draven’s hands on her.

“I’m not saying it won’t be at some point…”

It was inevitable. Sebastian knew it, and Candra had obviously accepted it. Draven wanted more than a friend, more than a companion. It would be easier to lie and swear it was otherwise, but what would be the point? He groaned, turning from her again. “I hate this. I hate that I can’t make him stop this.”

Candra sighed. “I don’t know, Sebastian. Maybe you aren’t meant to. Maybe free will is an illusion and we are all just rolling along, becoming what we were meant to be right from the outset. Maybe we only believe we have choices, but there really is a bigger plan. I just know I have to do this.”

“You keep saying that.”

“I know.”

“You make me furious.”

“I know.”

“And you make me feel powerless.”

“I know. Do you have to go on?”

He could hear the smile in Candra’s voice, as if she could sense the fight in him diminishing, even if it was only on this discussion…for now.

“I could,” Sebastian said.

She chuckled quietly. Her hand touched his back over the spot where his wings were hidden, playing lightly over the thickness of the bone there.

“I know the other thing you’ve been doing too,” she whispered.

Busted.

“I know you’ve been nice to me so I wouldn’t want to leave you,” Candra scolded, her tone clearly illustrating the depth of her knowledge.

Sebastian kept his back to her, enjoying the light touches. This was poles apart from anything he felt before. Anytime he’d been with a human woman in the past, he was careful not to expose his true nature or to allow them to touch him like this, for fear of them asking questions. With Ananchel there had been no caresses, no gentle touches. It just hadn’t been like that with them.

“It obviously hasn’t worked,” Sebastian pointed out.

“You didn’t need to change for me, Sebastian,” she teased lightly and then paused, silent for a moment.

He turned then to see she was staring straight ahead, looking at his chest instead of his face. He had the urge to lift her chin and make her look at him, but he resisted. Candra wasn’t shy, and if she wasn’t looking at him, it was intentional.

“You make me furious too, you know?” Candra admitted honestly.

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed.”

She smirked and looked up at him, tilting her head to the side. “I liked you just fine the way you were.”

Sebastian didn’t resist the smug grin fighting to get through because Candra wasn’t angry; she didn’t even seem upset to know he’d been playing nice to distract her…and she liked him, which surprised him.

“Well, once I got used to your…” She pressed her lips together like she was searching for the right word to use. “Well, just you. Once I got used to you. You were pretty hard going at first.” She looked down again briefly and then looked up. “Are we friends now?”

“I think we are.” That took Sebastian right back to wondering if friends was the right definition of what they were.

“Can I ask you to do something?” She sucked in a quick breath. “As a friend,” she tagged on at the end, hesitantly.

“What?” he asked dubiously. What exactly was the limit on what one friend could ask another to do?

“Lofi told me you are leaving soon. This isn’t exactly easy, standing with Draven…officially, and I’m going to need my friends to be there for me. Can you do that for me?”

“You mean the ball?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t recall getting an invitation,” Sebastian replied wryly.

“I’ll make sure you receive one, post haste,” she said.

“Do I have to keep being nice?” he asked in an attempt to distract himself from the fact he wanted to break Draven’s neck for putting this on her, and that he wanted to break her neck for expecting him to let Draven have her.

“No.” She smiled. “You can go back to being a pain in the ass, if that makes you feel better.”

“Hmmm, I do look good in a tux. I suppose if that’s what friends do, then I can do it.” Sebastian wasn’t sure he could. It wasn’t in his nature to give up and walk away, but he could tell it was the answer she needed to hear.

She smiled again, bumping his upper arm with her shoulder.

“But I think maybe I’ll at least try to keep being nice to you,” Sebastian added, grimacing as if it would be an effort.

“Don’t strain anything important while doing it,” she joked.

They came to the top of a short sloping hill, and Candra paused, looking over it and then looking back to Sebastian. It was times like this he truly wished he could have some sort of insight into what she was thinking.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

“I had a dream about my dad. I was frightened of the guards around the city, and he told me they were there to protect me,” she told him wistfully, staring into space ahead of her. “Do you think that means I could see them, even when I was hidden? I feel almost like he’s trying to tell me something.”

“No, if you could see them, they would have been able to see you. It was just a dream. Payne is gone,” Sebastian answered, although he was curious about where she was headed with this and what she thought Payne was trying to tell her.

“I used to come here with my dad. We would roll down this hill until we were too dizzy to climb back up it again.” She smiled sadly at the memory and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The gentle wind blew strands of hair across her face, and Sebastian stood there watching, once again wanting to reach out and touch her and not fully understanding why.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what would make a difference to her melancholy . He didn’t like this, feeling out of control the way he did since he crashed into her life. Candra moved to the edge of the slope, and without a word she sat down.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to roll down,” she answered as if it should be perfectly obvious why any young woman would sit down on muddy grass.

“Why?” Sebastian asked confused, moving closer to her.

She tugged on the leg of his jeans, urging him to sit with her. “Because I can, because I want to remember what it felt like, because it’s fun.” She tugged again more harshly and grimaced at his lack of enthusiasm.

“It’s been raining, if you haven’t noticed. Getting covered in mud and grass is fun?” He raised his eyebrows, wondering if she had finally lost her senses.

Candra rolled her eyes and smirked before lying down and launching herself down the hill sideways. It took a matter of moments, but her laughter filtered through the air until she stopped after a few more rolls at the bottom. She stood up a little shakily with mud and grass smeared over her clothes and her hair an untamed mess, but she was smiling and then rushed back up the hills again.

“Your turn,” she informed Sebastian brightly. It was almost completely dark because of the thick cloud cover, despite the fact it wasn’t night yet.

“My turn?” he parroted, wondering if she was actually expecting him to roll down a hill.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “Your turn.”

“Look, if you want to revert to your chil—”

“Oh, just roll down the hill, Sebastian,” she cut him off, exasperated.

Sebastian stared at her wide-eyed. She was audacious and courageous in everything she did, be it rolling down a grassy knoll or facing up to decisions he didn’t want to. Before her, his life had become monotonous and unsatisfying. In essence, for a long time he had stopped living. He merely existed. Yet here was Candra, so full of life and wanting to share this moment with him, and he was stuck, reluctant and a sorry excuse for a friend.

She was still watching and waiting defiantly, unwilling to give up on him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll do it,” he grumbled, slumping to the ground.

Candra giggled, clapping her hands together.

With a last glance, Sebastian lay down, closed his eyes, and rolled. It was over in a flash, but he could see how Candra would find it invigorating. He had been so obsessed lately with manipulating everything going on around him. But in those brief moments rolling down the hill, the feeling of being out of control was dominant. It was freeing to know that even with closed eyes and no control, the world was spinning past, it kept turning with or without him. It wasn’t flying, but he could see the attraction. Sebastian stood up, pulling back down his T-shirt that had ridden up, and rejoined Candra.

“Fun, right?” She beamed.

“Yeah, sure.” He shrugged, and she swiftly lay down to go again.

Except this time she didn’t reach the end laughing. She let out a sharp gasp, accompanied by the sound of ripping fabric, about two-thirds of the way down the hill, and she stopped at the bottom but didn’t stand. Instead she curled up clutching her leg.

Sebastian ran down after her and spotted the stone he hadn’t noticed before jutting out of the ground, now traced with Candra’s blood. He knelt down beside her.

“Crap, what did you do?” he asked.

“I would think it was perfectly obvious,” she said, pouting, tentatively exploring the small cut through the jagged rip in her jeans. Her cheeks were ruddy from exertion, and her eyes were damp. The sudden pain had caught her off guard.

“Let me see.”

“No.” She swatted his hands away stubbornly.

Sebastian sat back on his heels, placing his hand on his thighs. “So it’s like that, is it?”

“Like what?” Candra didn’t look up. She pulled at the jeans and poked her finger through, hissing when she touched what was a small but deep cut on her shin.

“You get to help me, but I can’t help you.” Sebastian reminded her of her own words.

Candra peeked up at him, scowling. “I don’t want you to heal me.”

Sebastian was sure he would never understand females of any kind. What in the Arch’s name was she thinking? The question must have been written on his face.

“It makes me not human.”

“But you are human, and you’re in pain,” he argued, reaching into his pocket to draw out his stone, running his thumb over the surface.

“You were the one who told me I wasn’t human, and I’m not. Not that part of me, not the part that can be healed. That makes me one of you.”

“Being one of us is bad?” Sebastian asked, feeling a stab of bitterness toward himself. He was probably adding to her confusion all along by trying to label her neatly, when in reality Candra was so unique she couldn’t be labeled. She was part-human, part-angel, a Nephil with a soul, not light or dark but somewhere in between. She didn’t fit anywhere because she was part of all of them, and he had made her feel bad for it.

A tingling sensation started in the center of his chest and spread out through his body. It felt like a jolt, an abrupt eureka moment. He was sure it was something he should understand, something he already knew but had kept hidden. Emotions he had never felt before were fighting their way through his subconscious. He was suddenly wide awake and buzzed, giddy just to be in Candra’s presence.

“What, are you going to sing me the joys of being an angel?” She laughed miserably, snapping his attention back to her, and winced again.

“It has its advantages,” he said excitedly. His heart quickened, and he wanted to share the feeling with her, except he couldn’t put his finger on what the feeling was, but he knew the next best thing.

“Oh yeah, like what?” she asked.

“Let me heal you, and I’ll show you,” Sebastian offered. He considered it a fair compromise for what he was offering.

“Show me, and I’ll let you heal me,” Candra countered. She was just a stubborn as he was.

“Fine,” he agreed. “But we should at least get you home and cleaned up first.”

“Are we going somewhere formal?” she asked with a hint of a teasing smile.

He sighed heavily and got to his feet, putting the curleax away. “No, but I don’t think dripping blood is a good look for you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Candra knew she was being childish, preferring to suffer than allow Sebastian to heal her, but she had only days left feeling human, feeling somewhat like she had felt her whole life up to now. Then she would find herself submerged into their world. She didn’t know where she would be living or studying. She had no idea what would be expected of her apart from being by Draven’s side. That was something that she resolved to clear up as soon as possible.

She didn’t think it was asking too much to bleed a little…okay, it wasn’t exactly a little; there was a small, disgusting flap of skin about an inch wide pulled back on her shin, and the blood was oozing out in a constant flow. It hurt, but she was sure her jeans took the brunt of the damage. She was just a little annoyed at, yet again, something going wrong for her.

However, since Sebastian wanted to show her something, she was a little more than curious to see what it was. So much so that she didn’t want to waste time going home to clean up her leg, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to concede to allowing him to heal her first. He was being the nice guy now. She wasn’t sure if it was still a façade, and she didn’t really care, but she still couldn’t bring herself to just give in.

Sebastian stood over her, his hand outstretched to help her up. Candra ignored it and grabbed a hold of the edge of her shirt—she knew it would rip easily because the fabric was flimsy—and tore off a strip from the end.

“Okay,” Sebastian chuckled, taking his hand back to scratch the back of his neck.

“I’m just doing what I was told to do and cleaning up,” Candra responded softly, wincing when she accidently brushed the cut as she pulled the leg of her jeans up to her knee. “This will do until you heal me,” she told him, wincing again as she positioned the small flap of skin and tied the strip of cloth around it. It looked like someone with a knife had taken a small slice of her. She must have hit a sharp rock at a wrong angle rolling down, but it really wasn’t too bad.

“It will get infected,” Sebastian warned.

Candra looked up to his concerned face. Actual genuine concern, she noted. He wasn’t happy about her makeshift bandage at all.

“If you’re going to heal me anyway, it won’t matter. Or I could just heal it myself.” She pushed her hands to the ground to stand. Sebastian rushed to help, standing her up with little effort.

“You passed out the last time. Maybe you should just leave the healing to me for now, okay?” he reminded her. “Besides it wouldn’t heal properly doing it yourself.”

“But you were trying to heal your own wing.”

“I’m a stubborn ass. I would have had to ask someone for help eventually,” Sebastian conceded.

Candra nodded, and he released her arm with a smile that reached his eyes for once. Her insides fluttered.

“So?” she prompted.

He smiled again and glanced around them sheepishly like a kid up to mischief. Sebastian looked young when he wasn’t sullen. Looking back to Candra again, he crossed his arms and grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt, pulling it up and over his head.

Candra had seen him bare-chested already, but it never failed to hold her interest. She watched in utter female fascination as the defined sinewy muscles of his abdomen corded, stretched, and flexed with the movement, the way the golden skin of his stomach pulled in over the waistband of the jeans that always sat so enticingly low on his hip bones—not to mention the splattering of hair that disappeared south in a fine line. She suddenly felt the air become much warmer.

“You’re kind of making me feel objectified here.” Sebastian chuckled, snapping Candra back to reality.

She appeared to be staring at his crotch. Her face flamed because she wasn’t—she was staring at his waistband. But judging by his comment, it appeared she was staring lower down. Candra was mortified, and her cheeks burned almost as much as her leg. Of course it was like telling someone not to think about pink elephants or chocolate ice cream or hot guys. The moment she thought about the fact she wasn’t checking out what was going on below his belt, her eyes were automatically drawn there, which brought about Round Two of laughter from him.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Candra barked through her embarrassment. “I was just thinking if you going to take those off, I’m leaving.” She pointed to his jeans, totally aware he wouldn’t believe her for one second.

Sebastian hummed conceitedly, stuffing one end of his mud-stained T-shirt securely into the pocket of his jeans. “I like this shirt; I’d like to keep it.” With that, the golden mist that signaled the appearance of his wings rolled down his back, and they unfurled, flexing outward and flapping twice as if he was stretching them for use.

Oh, my—Candra wasn’t coherent enough to complete the sentence in her head.

Sebastian approached her, grinning, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Don’t worry. Humans won’t be able to see either of us once we’re up.”

“Up?” she echoed as a combination of excitement and nervousness began to pump adrenaline through her body, making her heart race.

Sebastian pursed his lips, still smiling, and pressed his body against Candra’s firmly so she could feel the hardness of his chest and his heat invading the air around her. Butterflies went wild in her stomach as she suddenly realized that they could fly and Sebastian was about to take her up with him. She wasn’t sure she was ready, but then, how does someone prepare to fly with an angel?

“You’ll need to put your arms around my neck and hold on tight.”

She complied eagerly, reaching up on her toes, which made her leg throb and sting, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t think of any place she would rather be in that moment than flying in the safety of Sebastian’s arms.

“It would be easier if you put your legs around my waist too.”

Candra looked up at him, surprised to see the wicked glint in his eyes, and she couldn’t figure out if he was flirting with her or teasing her. “Let’s just see how this goes,” she replied wryly.

“Suit yourself.” Sebastian scanned the area once more.

“You have done this before? Taken someone with you?” she wondered aloud as he tightened his grip on her waist.

“No, never.”

“Wha—” Candra hadn’t got the whole word out before his powerful wings flapped, pushing them off from the ground. They shot up, spinning into the air, leaving her stomach floating somewhere down nearer the ground.

Up and up they went, with Sebastian’s face lifted to the sky above them, but she could see he was smiling widely, each whoosh of his huge wings pushing them higher and higher. This was his rolling down a hill, she realized. This was where he felt free, and he was sharing it with her. She wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She looked over his arm, past their dangling legs to see the ground getting further away, vanishing further into the clouds with each passing second. She wasn’t scared; it was fascinating, thrilling. Her heart felt as if it would burst with elation, and she could feel Sebastian’s heart thunder along with hers.

The air around them grew dark and hazy, like a thick wet fog. The dampness settled on their skin, cooling it and soaking their clothes and hair. Sebastian pulled Candra up his chest, and without thinking about it, she lifted one leg and then the other, hooking them around his body.

Candra was able to shift herself further up, clinging to him and forgetting about the pain in her shin, until their faces were almost level. The only thing preventing it was that Sebastian was still looking up.

All of a sudden the cloud mist began to clear, and Sebastian slowed as they came out into the clear sky. His gently moving wings created a breeze that wrapped around them, and Candra’s eyes widened. Sebastian finally looked at her. She could see him in her peripheral vision and feel his penetrating gaze on her, but Candra was looking away in compete awe at the breathtaking view around them.

The sun was setting. It had almost disappeared over the horizon, and the sky that hadn’t been visible through the cloud cover was now revealed in shades of gold, magenta, red, and blue, fading and mingling like a painted rainbow that had been smudged and blended perfectly. Sebastian turned slowly, treading air as one might tread water, as the shadow of the crescent moon appeared in the darkening sky—translucent, barely there, like a phantom creeping into being. It was surrounded by a few dim stars that were nothing more than pinpricks through the dazzling canvas of the burgeoning twilight.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. His warm breath combined with the coolness of Candra’s damp skin tickled her.

She turned her face to him and could see his trepidation. His eyes caught the dying light, reflecting the shimming rose color of the slowly waning day.

“It’s so beautiful,” she sighed.

Sebastian let out a long steady breath. It had the strangest effect on Candra, making the hairs rise on her arms and her nerves vibrate below her skin. Every fiber of her being seemed to reach out to draw him closer.

“Hey, I can breathe just fine.” It hit her that they were very high up and the air must be thinner, yet she had no problem breathing. She should be feeling cold too, but she didn’t.

He smirked, one side of his lips pulling up more than the other. “See, I told you it wasn’t all bad. It’s the angel blood inside you that allows you to do this.”

“But if there was no one else like me, how did you know?”

“I took a calculated guess that if you could heal, you could do this too.”

“You guessed?” Candra couldn’t keep the accusation from her tone.

“You are in no danger with me, Candra—ever. I can feel your breath and heartbeat; I can feel your blood moving under your skin and the temperature of your body. I would have stopped if you were in danger. My only concern is that you don’t want to be this close to me.”

Candra searched his expression for any hint that he was playing with her again, but there was none. They turned in slow circles, and her grip on his neck loosened a little. Her hands skimmed the silky hair at the nape of his neck to behind his ear. Sebastian closed his eyes again, leaning into her touch. She loved how his hair felt against her skin. Even damp, it felt like fine, smooth threads. She looked down, watching the top of his chest rise and fall, knowing there was nowhere for either of them to run, but also knowing she didn’t want to. That was the hardest part of all: knowing as the stars multiplied, the sky turned velvet, and the moon cast them in silver light, that she didn’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone else. The distant sounds of the city blurred to nothing, leaving only the calming swish of Sebastian’s wings.

Candra closed her eyes as tears burned and trickled over. This moment was perfect. It couldn’t be any more perfect, and yet she knew it was just that—it was only a moment. It was a dream, and dreams were only the imagining of a fanciful mind; they weren’t reality.

“Hey, hey,” he murmured into her hair when she released a quiet sob and leaned her face against his shoulder. “Don’t cry. I really can’t handle that female stuff. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Candra couldn’t help smiling through the tears and looked back up to him. “I’m sorry. I guess you’ve really swept me off my feet.” She laughed sadly, unable to wipe the tears away.

“Literally,” he quipped, to make her laugh, she knew. His arms tightened around her again. “I really don’t want to let you go,” he said, all the lightness gone from his tone. His eyes darkened with intensity in the way that made her feel he was connecting into her soul.

It was the first time that Candra allowed herself to believe, if only for that moment, that what Draven said was true and maybe Sebastian’s feelings for her ran deeper than either of them wanted to admit out loud.

Just as Candra thought it, she realized what she had been denying to herself and everyone else. She had been falling in love with Sebastian this whole time, and she didn’t know until that moment, because she had nothing to compare it to. Her insides clenched tightly, and her heart felt as if someone had it in a tight grasp, strangling the life out of her. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry or show her weakness, although that was exactly what she was doing.

For some reason the words of the dream she had about this park came back to her, the younger her on the swing. I want to fly, she had said to her father, and he’d warned her even then.

But what if you fall?

I’m not afraid, Candra had told him in the dream. But she was afraid. Every barrier she had kept up against the emotions she felt for Sebastian shattered, and the fledging love for him flooded through, overwhelming her.

“Don’t,” Sebastian pleaded in a strained sigh, watching her tears as if they were daggers stabbing at him.

Candra closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at him. She couldn’t bear to, because this was all they had. In three days, it would all be over, and she was expected to walk away. Sebastian would walk away. He had promised to be there for her at the ball, but Candra was sure he would never be able to keep that promise. If his feelings were even a fraction of what she felt, how would he ever watch her go to Draven? Her fingers tightened, gripping his hair until she was sure it must have hurt, but he barely seemed to register it.

It was nearly insufferable to think that Sebastian had entered her life without invitation and would leave without request. It wasn’t fair that he believed he was the only one affected. That he thought he could come in, shake her by the shoulders, and twist her into someone she didn’t recognize, then saunter out as if she would spring back like a rubber band. Even rubber could crumble.

Without any warning, she felt soft, warm skin brushing her tear stained cheek. Sebastian kissed her tears. She didn’t move or open her eyes, staying perfectly still, holding onto him. She felt his lips touch her other cheek just as tenderly, and his nose skimmed her skin, only slightly cooler than his lips.

She blinked and opened her eyes. Sebastian was staring at her, his eyebrows pulled down in a frown, making lines form over his nose. His jaw was tensed, and the tendons strained in his neck when he swallowed. He looked like a man holding a tremendous emotional weight on his shoulders: confused, angry, and scared, straining under the great force bearing down on him. Candra saw her own reflection in the depths of his eyes; he looked like her.

“Is this real?” she asked Sebastian unsteadily, as his lips neared hers agonizingly slowly.

They were both battling raging waters, maybe from the beginning, and neither of them stood a chance. She cursed a destiny that would take her away from him. She closed her eyes and felt his breath on her lips as they floated through the night, above the city and the clouds, where no one could see them.

Sebastian’s fingers pressed into her back at her waist, finding bare skin where her shirt was ripped and had ridden up. It was fire and ice. It was never meant to happen and still it had.

“There’s a legend about the moon,” he breathed against Candra’s lips.

“There are several,” she murmured. Her entire body tingled with the anticipation of kissing him, and she knew without a doubt he wanted it too. Their position left little to the imagination.

She felt him smile, tantalizingly close, no doubt smiling at her inability to refrain from correcting him.

“This story tells of a time when there was a perfect world, when everything existed in blissful harmony and the sun and moon shared the sky together—day and night, in an endless dusk. One time while the sun was resting, the moon strayed further than normal from his side and encountered small bright lights in the sky. When the sun returned, they vanished. The moon told the sun that she must leave too, that they must separate even though they didn’t want to because there were many lights in the sky that would shine only in the presence of the moon. So reluctantly, the moon left. It was what she had to do.

“But the sun didn’t want her to leave and still loves her with a burning passion. So he spends forever chasing her across the sky, existing on only brief glimpses of her in the distance on the very edge of day, because even though she runs from him to protect the stars, he can’t help but love her.”

Candra nodded minutely. She hoped she was understanding correctly what he was trying to say in his usual messed up way. They were right, Draven and Ivy. Candra felt so stupid because she hadn’t seen it in him and she couldn’t see it in herself. Sebastian was in love with her, and despite everything, she had fallen in love with him too.

Before she could tell Sebastian, his lips touched hers with a featherlight caress that set her body on fire, then again with more pressure. His lips were full and soft, and she responded to him, allowing him to guide the unhurried pace as their mouths molded to each other’s. His tongue peeked out to caress her bottom lip, then met hers in a delicious, painfully slow rhythm.

Sebastian tasted of fresh mint and salt, like the sea and sweet spices she couldn’t remember the name of but which reminded her of home and comfort. Candra melted against his body, feeling his lungs stutter in ragged breaths. His fingers played over the small area of her skin where his hands rested but never moved far from the same spot. All too soon it was over, and he dragged his lips away, pressing his forehead to hers.

“What have you done to me, Candra?” Sebastian forced out through gritted teeth. The groan that followed was tortured.

She didn’t answer because she didn’t know what to say. She had done nothing more to him than he had done to her. She loved him too and was about to tell him.

“Open your eyes,” Sebastian told her in a hushed voice.

When Candra did, she realized they were back at her house, and Sebastian was standing on the roof. She suddenly felt embarrassed to be clinging onto a half-naked man. His wings were gone, and her leg had begun to throb a little again. The moment was over.

Candra slithered a little awkwardly down his body, feeling him flinch when she accidently skimmed the front of his jeans. She didn’t mean to; it was difficult to avoid because of the way her legs had been wrapped around him. She couldn’t deny any longer that she wanted Sebastian to be affected by her. She wanted to believe that he was the sun and she was the moon and that he would never give up on her. She had barely felt the cut on her leg while they had been flying. She knew it had stopped bleeding because she could feel the tightness in the bandage that had stuck to the raw flesh. Candra resisted putting her weight on it in case the muscle stretching would pull at the skin.

“Now, I heal you,” Sebastian pressed, reaching into his pocket for the curleax.

Candra couldn’t argue with him; she was already looking forward to being rid of the injury.

There was a sudden loud whooshing sound overhead. Sebastian’s soft expression hardened, and his whole body became rigid. Candra looked up in time to see Draven drop from the sky like a giant eagle about to pluck its next meal from the ground. He landed with an almost silent thump on the roof. Within a fraction of a second, Sebastian’s equally impressive plumage was on full display.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Sebastian warned darkly, pulling Candra close to his side. His jaw was so tensed it barely moved with the words.

Draven remained unnervingly stoic. His sleek wings fluttered before collapsing to his back. “I was informed Candra was injured, and I am here to check on her condition.”

“What, you’re spying on me?” Candra demanded, feeling her cheeks flush. Maybe they hadn’t been alone up there after all.

“Only on the ground, and for your own safety,” Draven insisted, “but I believe you didn’t remain grounded.”

“I’m taking care of Candra. She is ours to protect until the ball,” Sebastian fired back defiantly, pulling her so tightly to his side that she cringed, shrinking against him. Candra knew it would be perfectly apparent to Draven that Sebastian was claiming her as his.

The two of them were like kids, fighting over a toy in the playground. It would have been fascinating to Candra to watch the dynamics of the power struggle, if she wasn’t the toy in question. She would pledge herself to Draven despite wanting Sebastian, but in both cases, it wasn’t because of a feeble attempt to mark her as theirs. She wasn’t cattle.

Draven’s calm exterior slipped for an instant, and his eyes blazed with anger. “I can see that,” he spat.

He knew. Candra knew that he knew. She was promising herself to him and here he stood in front of Sebastian and her together. Draven couldn’t fail to notice the way she automatically curved her body toward Sebastian’s embrace or the way he held her, and Draven didn’t like it. Perhaps that was why his fingers curled into fists. In another thirty seconds they would be fighting on Candra’s roof.

“That’s enough,” she cautioned both of them, pulling herself away from Sebastian. “I will not be some prize in a game of one-upmanship between the two of you.” Luckily they both seemed to stand down—luckily because she was positive there wasn’t really anything she could do if they decided to go at it, except get out of the line of fire. “Draven, you are getting what you want.”

He seemed to relax infinitesimally. Candra wondered if that was why he was there. Did whatever he had heard since she left his presence earlier convince him she had changed her mind? She turned to Sebastian then and recoiled a little at the desperation she saw in his eyes before he managed to conceal it, taking on a mask of deadly calm and turning a glare on Draven.

“You promised me you wouldn’t make this harder. The moon, remember?”

Sebastian’s eyes darted to Candra. He nodded swiftly, letting her know he’d heard and understood.

“Draven, you need to leave. I will see you tomorrow as planned.”

“For anyone else the answer would be a resounding no. For you…I will do what you ask. We will talk tomorrow.”

Without another breath, he burst into the air with a booming whoosh and disappeared to the night.

“That’s not unsettling at all,” Candra mumbled to herself sarcastically, regarding Draven’s sudden disappearance. Not only did they fly, they were fast, and she imagined that meant Sebastian had gone easy on her, unless Draven was exceptionally fast. Either way, flying without a seatbelt or even an aircraft was another thing she probably needed to get used to. Either that or keep her feet firmly planted on the ground.

“Can we go in now please?” she asked Sebastian.

He smiled, but his jaw was still tight. He looked stiff and uncomfortable. Her immediate thought was that he regretted kissing her, and she tried her best not to let it show on her face. Candra understood this was a disaster waiting to happen. Nothing could ever come of it, no fairy tales, no happily ever after. But now that she had kissed Sebastian, she wanted to do it again. She wanted to do it a lot. There was so much about him that she still wanted to learn and understand, and they were running out of time.

They went inside, and the very first thing Candra did was change into a pair of track pants and a clean T-shirt, peeling off the makeshift bandage which had stuck to the wound. It hurt a little coming off. When she came out of the bathroom, Sebastian turned toward her, and for a moment she was caught in his gaze, unable to look away. Sebastian had also changed into track pants from the small bag that now permanently resided in the corner of the room. Sadly for Candra, he had also put on a T-shirt, covering his beautifully sculpted upper body. The air in the bedroom was viscous, electrically charged, and Candra’s heart began to pound. Sebastian spent every night here, and she had never had this reaction to him being in her room. She was nervous. Everything had suddenly changed between them.

“Come here,” Sebastian requested gently and gulped, probably loudly, but it was hard for Candra to tell with the insistent banging of her heart in her ears.

She flicked the bathroom light switch off and made her way toward him, keeping her eyes on his and clenching and flexing her fingers by her side in a vain attempt to still the butterflies that were raging in her stomach. As she got nearer, it was as if the charge grew, popping and sizzling in the air between them. The hairs on her arms began to rise, and she felt as if she’d been magnetized, drawn to Sebastian by a force she was utterly powerless against.

Again it crossed Candra’s mind that he might be regretting kissing her. She felt like a lamb being dragged to the abattoir, instead of merely herself, walking to her bed as she did every night. What would she say if Sebastian denied any feelings for her? Would she tell him how she felt regardless, knowing she was running out of chances, or would she say nothing, preserve her dignity, and pretend it never happened?

Sebastian stepped back, leaving room between him and the edge of the bed. His shoulders were rigid, and he was breathing faster than normal. Candra stopped in front of him.

“Sit…please,” he said. His eyebrows were pulled together, fighting a frown, and his lips pressed into a hard line. His voice, although still in control, was more strained than usual.

She dragged her eyes away from his and sat down, curling her fingers into the edge of the comforter. Sebastian knelt down in front of her, one knee at a time, sitting back on his heels, and when he began to carefully roll the leg of her track pants up, she realized he still intended to heal her.

“You don’t need to—”

“You agreed,” he said flatly, tilting his face up to her. His tone held a cold note of accusation.

Candra looked into his face, but refused to meet his eyes. It seemed as if they were back to square one, except it was worse because she had finally understood that all this figuring-Sebastian-out had consequences. It led to her falling in love with him. For her, she was sure there was no way back. For him, it seemed all it took was one confrontation with Draven before he backed away. Candra never imagined Sebastian would be the type to give up so easily.

Her leg really didn’t hurt anymore. It stung a little when it rubbed on anything, but she was pretty sure it would have healed nicely on its own.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Sebastian whipped the T-shirt he was wearing over his head quickly and dropped it unceremoniously on the ground beside him. Candra’s mouth went dry at the sight of him, and the pounding in her ears returned louder than ever. She remembered he’d told her that healing made it harder to control the appearance of their wings.

“I like this one too.” He half-grinned, and his cheeks took on a slight unfamiliar blush.

Candra smiled too, although she didn’t feel it. She was too focused on the way he had settled her foot on his thigh and the tips of his fingers, which were ghosting up her calf, shooting bursts of heat through her body. She closed her eyes and bit the inside of her lip to stifle the whimper trying to escape. Then she felt the smooth surface of the small curleax pass over her skin. The feeling was like a searing flame that didn’t burn or hurt at all as energy passed through Sebastian to her. It was overwhelming, maybe because now she knew how it felt to heal and be healed. Healing someone meant sharing a small part of yourself, giving yourself over to the power of your own life force and allowing some of it to pass to another person. There was something deeply emotional, almost spiritual about it.

Candra felt something soft against the place where the small cut had been and opened her eyes to see Sebastian’s head bent and his lips pressed to her leg. Her breath caught in her throat sharply and came out as a gasp. He pulled up quickly and looked at her as if trying to gauge her reaction. Shock, delight, amazement, joy, excitement…there were too many emotions overpowering Candra for her to register just a single one.

Sebastian’s wings were opened slightly and bent in at the joint, the golden-tinted edges barely touching the floor, and the room was filled with his scent, his presence taking over the space as if he had always been there. Candra felt as though she couldn’t remember a time anymore when he wasn’t there. He carefully placed her foot on the floor next to his knee, trailing his fingers over her ankle. Shivers rocketed up her spine. When Sebastian’s eyes met Candra’s again, they possessed a dark quality, a deep need…a ravenous hunger. It made her heartbeat quicken once again. The room was thick with silence, only punctuated by halting breaths.

Sebastian reached up, his long fingers cupping Candra’s neck just under her ear, and his thumb grazed her cheek. Unintentionally, her lips parted and left a quiet sigh floating in the air between them. Any lingering doubt she possessed that Sebastian regretted their kiss was obliterated when in one swift movement he pulled himself up onto his knees and pressed his mouth to hers with a deep groan resonating with surrender.

Chapter Fifteen

The door of the elevator slid open ominously, or at least it felt that way as Candra swallowed down the enormous lump in her throat. Ananchel stood, arms crossed, pushing her ample breasts upward in the leather bustier she was wearing. She looked Candra up and down appraisingly with her ruby lips pursed. Candra was concerned about the way Draven seemed to be able to read her like a morning newspaper; surely he would see the difference in her today. She could see he suspected it last night, and she was sure today he would be able to confirm his suspicions. He would know her feelings toward Sebastian had changed.

The door pinged and began to close, yet Candra couldn’t make herself move forward. A black stiletto heeled boot stopped the movement, and the door slid back again.

“This is an unfamiliar side of you, Candra,” Ananchel observed as Candra hesitantly exited the doorway. “I don’t recall every seeing you so unsure.”

“You don’t know me very well then, Ananchel. I’m unsure about everything.”

Flame-hair hummed in contemplation and released the door, making Candra jump when the thump of metal meeting metal echoed through the long corridor.

“Jumpy too,” Ananchel mused.

“Was it you?” Candra asked accusingly, walking beside her to Draven’s quarters. Ananchel glanced at her sideways, not answering, and it only succeeded in aggravating her. “Please, Ananchel, don’t treat me like I’m stupid.”

“Then don’t behave as if you are.”

Candra glared at her, enraged, but Ananchel simply shrugged. “I remember a time when courtship was so much simpler. There were no games, no pretense. Everyone knew what was expected of them. There was order, balance, a modicum of decorum. Did you really think Draven would allow you to walk around unprotected?”

“I have protection.”

“Yes, so I heard.” Ananchel smirked. “But no, it wasn’t me.” She stopped at a door and waited.

“Aren’t I meeting Draven?”

Ananchel shrugged nonchalantly. “He said bring you to the library, I brought you to the library.”

“What a good little pet you are,” Candra retorted snidely. She didn’t know what possessed her. There was just something about Ananchel that got on her nerves. She always gave Candra the feeling she knew more than her. It was like Ananchel was in on a secret that Candra wasn’t allowed to know about.

Ananchel’s eyes tightened, and the flecks of red-gold sparkled like kindling bursting to life, but she very quickly controlled herself, rolling her shoulder back and standing tall. “He’s waiting,” she informed Candra emotionlessly, before turning and walking away the way they came.

Candra turned toward the ornately carved door and took a deep breath, hoping Ananchel didn’t just walk away so easily because she knew Draven was waiting on the other side of the door to deal with her. It wasn’t as if she had broken any rules; she was free until the ball. Candra’s blood ran cold at the idea: after the ball she was no longer free. It seemed she had so much more to lose now than ever before. Sebastian had spent the night in her bed for the second time, the first being the night she’d healed him, and that wasn’t really the same. This time there had been a lot more touching and kissing and chemistry that sparked and sizzled. Candra had eventually fallen asleep lying against his solid chest with his arms wrapped around her like iron vices. When she’d woken and looked up to him, he was already awake and watching her intently. They’d very quickly picked up where they’d left off until it was time for Candra to leave.

Sebastian’s whole demeanor had shifted, becoming remote and detached. He’d left without a word while she’d been in the shower. She still hadn’t told him how she felt.

The library, Ananchel had said. That didn’t sound too bad. Draven was hardly likely to burst into flames of rage surrounded by his favorite books. Candra took a deep breath and turned the heavy brass door knob, listening to the creaking and groaning of the mechanism to distract herself from her own nervousness.

She didn’t know why she expected anything other than grand. So far the only rooms in the building that she’d seen that didn’t resemble something from a castle or a seventeenth century estate were Draven’s rooms, which were large, modern and elegant rather than the grandiose paneled rooms with elaborate carvings and filled with antique furniture. This room was no different. High walls covered in dark wooden shelves housed what must have been thousands of volumes. There were two intricately carved desks facing each other with brass reading lamps casting an eerie light over what looked like work carelessly discarded. In fact, there were a few lamps dotted around the room, next to wingback chairs and the long studded leather sofa by the fireplace.

The only natural light came through two arched leaded and stained glass windows, and reflected off the polished wood floor like muted jewels had been scattered there. Candra chose to not look too closely at the images depicted in the glass, preferring ignorance to having another image like the one of Brie on the battlefield seared into her memory. The walls that weren’t covered with shelves held paintings. Some were modern and blockish with dazzling bright colors, frameless and out of place with the décor. Others were oil paintings, older and faded a little, with delicate strokes and textures. They all held a shared characteristic—wings. They all depicted wings.

Draven stood in front of one of the images, loading a black disc onto a gramophone. The box was old, the wood aged and darkened over time, but polished to a gleaming shine, and the brass cylinder looked like a golden flower, opening and blooming toward the sun.

“Thank you for coming,” he greeted Candra formally.

“I said I would.”

“Yes, your honestly continues to surprise me.” He lifted the arm of the player and placed it over the record, filling the room with the crackling sound of piano music Candra didn’t recognize. Draven took a step back and turned to look at her, holding out his hand in invitation.

Candra had a sudden, brief moment of panic. She had never dance with a man before, at least not in the formal way suggested by the music flowing through the room. She walked toward him slowly and slipped her hand into his. The atmosphere between them that had begun to relax was once again strained. Candra tried her best to loosen up, telling herself yet again that she had done nothing wrong. It was difficult seeing the disappointment in his navy eyes when he ran his thumb speculatively across her lower lip that she knew was slightly swollen from hours spent kissing. She darted her eyes away, feeling the blush rise in her cheeks as he took her free hand. He placed it on his shoulder and settled his own at her lower back, before leading them in a slow dance.

“There will be dancing at the ball,” Draven told her by way of an explanation.

The heat of his fingers penetrated through the fabric of her shirt, warming her skin. She didn’t answer, keeping her eyes on her hand at his shoulder. They needed to talk, but Candra wasn’t sure where to begin. The ball was coming closer, and she needed answers. She needed to know what to expect…besides dancing and flying, obviously.

“I trust that you haven’t changed your mind?” he asked lightly, and she saw him swallow stiffly in her peripheral view.

“Have you?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “Will you give up? Will you release me from obligation?”

“No.”

“I won’t walk away.”

“Others would—” he sighed, turning her again “—under the circumstances.”

“I’m not others,” Candra said decisively, finally meeting his eyes.

His body seemed to relax, and his lips widened into an easy grin. “No, and I’m very glad for that. You will see, Candra, that this is the way it was meant to be.”

“I’m not sure I will,” she disagreed in a voice barely above a whisper.

“You will,” he promised, turning her again.

There seemed little point to Candra in discussing what had happened with Sebastian. Draven’s concern only appeared to extend to her keeping to her side of their deal. He was utterly convinced she would eventually come around to his line of thinking. She didn’t have much experience with falling in love, but what she did know for sure was the physical spark she felt between them was diminishing as her feelings for Sebastian grew. But for now, she still felt it: the ghost of a thrill to be in Draven’s arms, the heat that radiated outward from where they touched, and the desire that sparked every time she looked in his eyes.

The worst part for her was that she still couldn’t think of Draven as being a bad person, despite what was happening. Draven wanted to protect those who looked to him, and he believed that by having Candra with him, that would happen. It was admirable in a bizarre way. She could identify with that aspect of his personality. They both only wanted what they thought best for those around them.

“You’ll probably spend quite a bit of time in this room,” Draven commented, casually glancing around them.

“Why is that?”

“Well, it the most conducive to study, I think.”

“Study?” Candra asked, stopping and pulling back.

Draven tilted his head to the side innocently, as if he didn’t know very well what she was talking about. “I presumed you would want to finish out the school year?”

She wasn’t falling for it. She knew he was trying to appease her; he was trying to win her over with something he knew she wanted. School was a carrot, one of many Candra suspected she would soon be offered.

“Of course I want to, but I thought…”

“You thought I would make you give up everything,” he finished for her, his tone flat and dejected, indicating she had hurt his feelings. Draven returned to the gramophone, picking the arm up, and suddenly a heavy silence descended on the room. “That’s not what I’m about, Candra. You will only give up what you have to. I want us to be friends.”

“Friends.” Candra raised an eyebrow.

“In the beginning, at least.” He grinned cockily. “We can move on, once you are finished school here. With me, you can study anywhere you wish. You can be anything you want to be. I want to make you happy, and I don’t expect you to give up everything.”

Candra frowned and turned from him, making her way over to one of the couches. “Except for my family and the one I love.”

“Ah.” Draven nodded slowly. He moved to sit on the arm at the opposite end of the couch and pulled his feet up to the seat. “So you’ve told him?” he asked inquisitively. The tightness had returned to his jaw.

Candra crossed her legs and sank further back into the corner. She shook her head, pressing her lips together.

“I’m sorry this is the way it has to be,” he said sincerely, resting his hands in his lap and weaving his fingers together, but leaving no room for debate.

Candra sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, looking around the room—anything to avoid the weight of his depthless eyes on her. “The paintings in here are beautiful,” she commented graciously in an attempt to change the subject.

“Thank you.” He beamed, clearly pleased, and slipped down onto the seat, sidling up beside her. “Maybe I’ll paint you too, one day.”

“You painted these?” Candra asked, surprised and impressed, darting her eyes around for another glance. She had always loved art and wanted to try her hand at painting. Her few attempts were pitifully amateurish, more like a schoolchild’s finger-painting efforts.

“Yes.” Draven chuckled modestly. “I’ve tried many styles but haven’t found one that suits. I tend to keep a studio wherever I’m living.” He shrugged. “Someday I hope it will come together. You know, when inspiration meets talent?” His eyes widened briefly, almost like he was dubious of it ever happening. “So far, I’m told my paintings display one or the other, never both together.”

Another thing Draven was good at, even though judging by his sentiment he lacked faith in his own ability. Again her mind screamed at her that she should hate him. She wanted to, for what he was making her give up, but she couldn’t.

The seat beside her shifted, and she felt Draven’s warm breath exhale across her cheek. When she turned her face to him, he was only inches away, leaning to her. She had no doubt of his intentions when she looked into his dark, hooded eyes and found herself inclining away from him, pressing further into the corner or the sofa. Candra’s hands trembled in her lap, and she squeezed them tightly into fists. Maybe this was inevitable if she and Draven were to be together, but she wasn’t sure she was ready yet. She’d just spent a good portion of the night before and the morning kissing Sebastian. It was his mouth she wanted on her now, his hands.

“Tell me why you and Sebastian are the way you are? Why can’t there be another way?” Candra was stalling for time. Draven knew it, and she knew it.

His nostrils flared at the very mention of Sebastian’s name.

Her heart rate picked up, and her traitorous stomach tumbled with butterflies of excitement at the idea of Draven’s full, soft lips on hers.

He brushed Candra’s hair away from her face and skimmed the edge of his little finger along her heated cheek. “He refuses to listen, and if he won’t, none of the others will.”

“I don’t understand,” she breathed, aware her chest was rising and falling rapidly.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Draven warned in a seductively calm voice. “Close your eyes.”

Candra did as he asked, ignoring the stab of guilt she felt drive through her chest. This was a betrayal, plain and simple. She hadn’t told Sebastian how she felt about him yet, and here she was prepared to kiss another. All thought faded when Draven’s warm lips pressed to the corner of her mouth, and she felt his minty breath on her skin. Her finger clawed the fabric of her jeans because she didn’t want it to feel nice, but it did. Then his lips brushed slowly and carefully across hers, and she felt a spark in the pit of her stomach. His fingers trailed down her cheek tenderly, over the line of her jaw, coaxing her lips to part. The soft, moist, grainy flesh of his tongue touched hers delicately, and his finger slipped down her throat, winding around to the back of her neck and pulling her to him. Without conscious decision, Candra’s hands released from her jeans, one smoothing up the ridges of his defined back over his ribs and the other slipping around his waist, bunching his T-shirt in her fingers. Everything about it felt exciting and yet at the same time wrong.

Her fingers passed over the spot on his back where the bone thickened, her other hand had already wound into his hair when she finally came to her senses. It was wrong; it was all wrong. He wasn’t the one she wanted.

“Wait,” Candra pleaded, pushing Draven away.

He moved easily, compliantly, licking his lips and gazing at her like a starving man seeing food for the first time in days. He was still near enough to only need to shift his weight and he would be kissing her again.

“I can’t,” Candra whispered in a ragged voice. Her heart, her body, her mind…they were all screwed up, conflicted about what she was feeling and what she should.

Draven scrunched his eye shut tight like he was fighting against himself and then moved away from her, sitting back heavily. “It’s okay.” He frowned tensely.

“I’m sorry,” Candra apologized. “I just…I can’t. It doesn’t feel…” She tripped over her words, trying to get them out.

“I said it’s okay,” Draven repeated sternly, running his fingers through his hair. He stood up quickly, spinning away from her so that she couldn’t see his face. “Don’t embarrass either of us by making excuses, please.”

Either of us? He’s embarrassed. The idea confused Candra a little. Draven, who was normally so confident and in control, sounded flustered. She was about to call him out on it when a commotion in the hallway made them both look toward the door.

Lofi burst through moments later. She was pale with red-rimmed eyes as though she’d been crying. Her normally immaculate hair was mussed up, and she was wild-eyed and angry.

“What in the Arch’s name is going on here?” Draven raged.

“Call your dog off, Draven,” Lofi warned venomously through gritted teeth, swatting Ananchel’s hand away from her arm, “before I put her down for good.”

“What do you want here?” Draven demanded, ignoring Lofi’s warning.

Candra panicked and stood up to go to Lofi, who was edging toward her, continuously evading Ananchel’s grip.

“Call someone,” Ananchel shouted to Draven.

Candra made to move toward them, but Draven caught her arm, holding her back.

“Stop it,” Candra roared toward Ananchel, and she noticed Lofi was holding her phone in her hand. Bile rose, burning in her throat. This was bad…she knew it was bad. Lofi wouldn’t have come here otherwise. Something was very, very wrong.

“Please, Draven,” Candra begged as both Ananchel’s and Lofi’s wings sprouted from behind them. “Please.”

“Ananchel!” he bellowed and as if he had physically restrained them, they both stopped just as two burly men—Watchers—appeared at the door, ready to tackle Lofi.

Lofi’s wings instantly disappeared, and Draven released Candra’s arm. She flew toward Lofi, Candra’s eyes already filled with tears of shock and fear. She didn’t even know why yet. Her mind refused to wrap around her biggest fear.

“You have to come now.” Lofi sniffled. “Something awful has happened, just awful. There was nothing anyone could do. They couldn’t stop the bleeding. It was already too late.”

Candra’s hands were on Lofi’s arms and hers on Candra’s, already grasping at each other for support. “Where’s Brie?” Candra asked shakily as a thick, salty tear rolled down her cheek and over her lips.

“She’s at the house; I was nearest to here. I tried to call you, but—” she held her other hand up, showing the phone “—I forgot you left it at our house last night, and I had it in my purse to bring it back to you. When I called here, they wouldn’t put me through.”

Candra glowered over at Ananchel, who made no gesture of remorse. She simply glowered back defiantly. Suddenly Lofi pulled Candra into an embrace, and she felt sick and shaky. Candra’s mind called Sebastian’s name, but her mouth couldn’t seem to find the words.

“I’m sorry,” Lofi muttered repeatedly.

Candra’s body felt like jelly; her legs felt empty, not able to hold her weight. Her whole body felt pliable and hollow, as if she would float away at any moment except for Lofi holding her there.

“It’s Ivy.”

It was two words, just two tiny words, and Candra felt her whole world implode. Everything went dark as she sagged against Lofi, both devastated and elated in one gut-wrenching and terrifying instant. All the air left her lungs in a terrible wail. Sebastian was safe; he was alive. For a fraction of a second it was just like losing her father all over again. It was her only other experience of death since she didn’t remember her mother. In that moment she had been terrified that Sebastian had done something stupid, because he’d been distracted or worried, that had gotten him killed. Her world had stopped turning. But it was the very same instant when Candra knew he was safe, she realized Ivy wasn’t.

After Lofi said Ivy was gone, Candra felt the world fade away. Time stopped for her. Candra vaguely recalled demanding to know how Ivy died and then crying, lots of crying. She had covered her ears like a petulant child refusing to listen. She didn’t want to know. Knowing would mean it really happened, and as if a switch flipped inside her, she shut down. The tears continued but nothing else. If she refused to hear how it happened, she could pretend to some degree it was simply another bad dream. Everything began to spin and buzz around her, but she was standing still in the midst of it. She remembered the smell of leather, but she couldn’t remember how she got home. But she knew she was home; it smelled like home.

Candra had a vague recollection of raised voices and being carried, but she tuned it out—it didn’t matter. She thought about time and decisions and consequences and how every little action in an entire life can mean setting an entirely new course.

If she had stayed with Ivy instead of running after Sebastian, would Ivy still be here? Her friend would have been safely tucked in bed instead of lying cold on a slab if she’d had the sleepover Ivy wanted. If she had told Ivy the truth, if she had never sat beside Ivy in class the first day they met, if she had turned away when Ivy spoke to her? Candra couldn’t help wondering if any of these choices changed the path of Ivy’s life that led to her death. She imagined time as a living breathing animal that she could corral and tame, a thing she could force her will upon instead of always the other way around. If she could just take back one moment, just one tiny moment in the grand scheme of whatever it was she was giving up everything to save, it would all be different now.

What if she couldn’t change anything? What if she gave up everything and the Watchers’ war began again regardless? Why should she be the one to sacrifice everything to save the lives of beings that were all going to die eventually, no matter what she did? The Watchers weren’t immortal. They could die, and eventually they all would, one way or another, and still there would be no eternity for them. It was all so unfair.

Sebastian was thinking about what he had promised Candra as he spent the day watching her drifting in and out of consciousness. Her mind didn’t want to accept the reality of what happened with Ivy, and instead it kept her locked in a semi-waking state where everything was just blurred around the edges enough to make it feel like a dream. He was meant to help her through it, the transition from her life to a life with Draven. It was such utter bullshit. How could he possibly stand there and hand her off to another guy? The part of Sebastian that was her friend—the one that cared for her enough to let her go as long as she was okay—was being repeatedly shot down by the two other parts: the Watcher part that was loath to give in to Draven and the guy part that was emotionally inexperienced with women and was torn between being a gentleman and just going with what he really wanted to do. Sebastian was used to controlling his desires, and having them control him was a whole different situation. So far he was pretty sure he was failing miserably.

Flying had been an impulse decision, a damned stupid impulse decision. He had gotten caught up in the moment when Candra made him roll down that hill, and he had wanted to share something with her. Sebastian never wanted to share anything with anyone.

Just before he had taken her up, he felt a rush of excitement, like every molecule in his body was roaring at him, trying to wake him from the stupor he had been walking around in forever. And then, in the clouds, she was suddenly everywhere, and the stunning view around them paled in comparison to her, not just her outward appearance, but everything about her: the way he wanted to touch her, the way she made him crazy and talked him in circles, how he couldn’t help smiling every time he caught her checking him out. He realized the time he spent with her wasn’t for her benefit—it was for his. He hung around so much because of how he felt by just being close to her.

Sebastian had so many misgivings about everything pressing down on him, and it made him want to scream or fight. But he couldn’t fight the past or change anything he had done, and at the same time, he knew it was his decisions that had brought him to that moment in the sky—Watchers, like humans, were the sum of their experiences. Sebastian truly didn’t want to make another mistake that could potentially leave Candra with a battered and bruised heart or carrying more emotional scars into her new life. Neither could he deny his feelings any longer. They had come flooding out of him in a torrent he couldn’t control.

He wanted to tell her—he was practically bursting at the seams to tell her—and the setting couldn’t have been more perfect. Up in the clouds was his secret place, where he went to be alone, and it was as if the sky itself had been rooting for him. But he couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come. Apparently words were not his thing, and so he’d told her a story he had heard once. It was utterly pathetic; for everything Sebastian had experienced in his life, he couldn’t afford himself the vulnerability of exposing his emotions that way. Then, he had kissed her…and she had kissed him back. Really kissed him back. Words didn’t seem so important any longer.

Rage had sliced through his body at the sight of Draven waiting for them at the townhouse—and not just at Draven, at himself too. For one glorious, foolish moment, he had allowed himself to believe Candra couldn’t leave him, that there was no way she would be able to walk away after what had just happened between them. It had blackened his rage further to know it was Draven that shattered his illusion, reminding him that his time with Candra was short. He did promise to let her go. A ridiculous promise.

When he had gotten the call from Brie about the shooting, he had rushed right over to the townhouse. Candra had come through the door, and flung herself across the room, crashing into his arms. That was when the proverbial shit hit the fan. Sebastian had scooped her up as she buried her tear-soaked face into his jacket. Brie wasn’t happy, Gabe wasn’t happy, and Lofi had worn a strange expression of disappointment. He had no idea what was said, because he hadn’t been listening. He could guess it went something along the lines of this being his plan all along. They would have been partially right; he did want Candra to fall for him, and it would have worked too, if he hadn’t gotten so damn close to her and fallen for her instead.

After that, he had held Candra for a good portion of the day, unwilling to force her to deal with the situation, knowing it made no difference. It wasn’t going to change anything if he let her sleep through her sobs. That turned out to be another wrong decision.

“Shush,” Sebastian whispered against Candra’s ear. He was lying curled behind her, his fingers soothingly combing through her hair.

“What time is it?” Candra’s throat was raw, and her chest felt like someone had stood on it. Outside her window, she saw it was nighttime, and her room was in darkness apart from the glow of streetlights.

“It’s just past midnight. You’ve either been crying or sleeping for most of the day,” Sebastian told her in a hushed voice. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything for you. I felt so helpless just lying here listening to you weeping your heart out all day.” He kissed her head, and then she felt him twist his body away from her to reach behind for something.

“Here.” He offered Candra a bottle of water.

Candra had never been so happy to see a bottle of water in her entire life. Her body was stiff and sore from dehydration. Every cell felt as if it had been squeezed of every last ounce of fluid. She took the bottle and pushed herself into a sitting position. They were both still dressed, even down to sneakers. She opened the bottle and drank deeply, stretching her legs and feet.

Sebastian held out two small white pills. “I could heal you, if you want?”

“Aspirin is fine.” Candra forced a smile, taking them and gulping them down with her next mouthful of water, at the same time using the toe of one sneaker to push the other off her foot.

Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You wouldn’t let me take them off.”

Candra tilted her head, pushing the other sneaker off with her toes. “Really?”

“People do weird stuff when they are in shock.” He shrugged.

She rubbed her face roughly and placed the empty bottle on the bedside table. Sebastian had copied her, taking his shoes off, and she wondered if she had told him he couldn’t either. He was leaning back against the metal frame of the bed with some cushions behind him, looking at her anxiously.

“What?” he asked.

Candra’s mind was spinning; it felt like a cyclone was twisting questions around inside there. Her skin felt tight and restrictive. She hated not understanding why everything was happening to her. That was the worst part: the colossal neon sign hanging over her head, reading “Why Me?”

“I can’t see my life without you anymore.” She frowned worriedly.

He didn’t say anything at all. He didn’t make any gesture or even so much as blink at the declaration.

“I can imagine it without everyone else. I can deal with losing everyone else. I hate it. I hate it so much it’s tearing my heart out, but I can imagine it.”

Still, he made no reaction other than the tiniest twitch at the corner of his lip and the bobbing of his Adam’s apple when he swallowed.

“I can’t see myself without you anymore. Today, for a second, just for a second, I thought it was you.” Candra’s voice broke with emotion, and Sebastian reached for her hand. She cringed back to the corner of the bed, pushing herself as far from him as she could, like a frightened animal. She didn’t want him to comfort her; she didn’t want comfort from anyone. She didn’t feel like some sort of self-sacrificing half-angel. She was selfish, and in the one instant that mattered, she had put herself before everyone she had ever known.

Sebastian blinked, and gold glinted in his brown irises from the streetlights. His eyes narrowed, confused by her reaction.

“Don’t you get it?” Candra pushed, threading her fingers through her hair and pulling it harshly when her fingers caught in knots winding around them. “I was happy. I was more than happy; I was ecstatic that it wasn’t you because I couldn’t see any future without you in it. I would have let them burn. I’m so damned tangled up in you that none of it means anything without you anymore. My friend is dead.” Her heart clenched, and she sucked in a sharp breath that caught in a sob. “My best friend is dead, and the only thing I could think was ‘rather her than you, rather anyone than you.’”

Sebastian’s calm expression slipped, and she saw it was more than confusion in his eyes; his emotions were as twisted as hers.

He reached forward, grabbing Candra’s upper arms and pulling her to him, but she fought him, banging her fists violently against his chest.

“No, don’t. I don’t want you to be nice. I don’t want you hold me…please.”

He managed to scoot himself up while holding her still. “Candra, stop it. You need to calm down. Stop.”

Candra continued to pull away, a strange unrecognizable fury boiling in the pit of her stomach like lava, spitting molten rock and spewing chaos and putrid sulfur, tainting the air around her.

“I can’t do it. I can’t do it.”

“It’s the shock, Candra. Breathe…breathe.”

She was panting, and Sebastian wasn’t holding her arms any longer; he was holding her face tightly, his palms pressed flat against her overheated skin as her chest heaved over and over again. Candra’s fingers were clamped on his shoulders, her nails biting welts into his smooth, golden skin beneath his T-shirt, and his beautiful face was inches from hers.

Candra had no idea how they had gotten into the position they were in, but he was kneeling in the middle of her bed, and she was sitting astride him on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist.

She wanted him. She couldn’t rationalize it, and the words in her head were too jumbled to verbalize the sudden and ferocious need she felt to be as close as physically possible to Sebastian. Each short pant made her chest slam against his, and it wasn’t enough. The muscles in his jaw clenched and twitched, and his fierce gaze seemed to penetrate the confusion raging inside her to see what she needed. His reluctance was evident in his expression. Candra couldn’t blame him. She was acting like a crazy person, but she needed to think about something else. She needed to feel something else beside the overwhelming fear and pain coursing through her body, and the heavy weight of responsibility and loss threatening to pulverize her.

Sebastian dropped his arms to Candra’s waist, holding her tighter than she’d ever been held in her life. So tight, she was sure it would leave bruises. Deep inside, some dark part of her cried out for more, wanting to be marked to prove it was real, that he was really there, that angels did exist, and that she belonged to Sebastian, that she wasn’t simply crazy.

Candra leaned her forehead against Sebastian’s shoulder, breathing in his scent and committing it to memory, then she turned her head to the side so her temple rested against him. His arms shifted slightly. It wasn’t to tighten; it was more like he was getting comfortable, assuming she was resting her head to sleep. She wasn’t. Candra shifted her own body to compensate and heard the sharp hiss through his clenched teeth.

Hooking her fingers into the neck of his T-shirt, she pulled it out of the way so she could touch her lips to the skin over his collarbone before opening her mouth a little to run her tongue in a circle over his warm flesh.

“You can’t do that,” Sebastian complained, but tilted his head to the side, letting her drag her mouth up his throat to the warm, slightly salty skin below his ear.

She could feel his blood pumping under his skin, his heartbeat, the part that made him more human than angel, more like her.

In a sudden blur of movement, Candra was on her back with Sebastian hovering above her, one hand pressed into the bed by her head and the other at the top of her thigh, holding her leg around his hip. His eyes were closed, concentrating and moving behind his eyelids with each deep breath. Candra didn’t have time to react, or move or say anything at all before the gold mist that she knew so well now rolled over his back and his wings shot out through his T-shirt as they reached past the edge of the bed on either side, enclosing them both.

“Shit,” Sebastian growled under his breath and grimaced in frustration.

When his eyes opened, Candra recognized the need in them, a need he was fighting with every ounce of willpower he processed. When his mouth pressed hard against hers, she could feel he was losing the fight and she was winning. This…the heat, the fire that erupted inside her belly and the way her heart just sang with pure joy because she was touching Sebastian, this was what she wanted.

All too soon he dragged his lips away and kissed her cheek gently.

“I told you, you can’t do that,” he groaned next to Candra’s ear. “I need to stay in control. You’re in shock, and you’re grieving. I can’t be with you now, not like this. It’s for all the wrong reasons. You know it, and I know it.”

Candra felt the tears well up again and flow down her temple and into her hair. Then, silently, just as he had done the night before, Sebastian kissed away her tears, trailing his warm mouth over her temple and then toward her jaw to the hollow at the base of her throat and back up to her lips again. Painstakingly slowly, making sure to catch every tear. Candra kept her eyes closed the whole time, hooking her thumbs into the loops of his jeans. Until finally Sebastian rolled onto his back—his wings had disappeared—and took her with him to lie against his chest, so that they were at the wrong end of the bed.

“Your wings.” Candra only needed to say those words, and she knew he’d understand her question about their sudden appearance. It wasn’t exactly like she didn’t know the answer. She knew Sebastian and the other Watchers needed to maintain control of their emotions to keep their wings hidden.

“You took me by surprise, and I haven’t got quite the same control with you that I did with others,” he said matter-of-factly. “It won’t happen like that again.”

Others. The appearance of his wings didn’t have the ability to remind Candra where she was and who she was with, but that one word did. Sebastian wasn’t just another guy to fool around with. He wasn’t even human. He was a Watcher angel with thousands of years and probably thousands of women in his past. But they were just women to him, bodies to distract himself with. Apparently she wasn’t. If they kept going, it wouldn’t only be a distraction; it would mean something more, and neither of them were ready for that.

Her breakdown was an attempt at avoidance. Candra knew Sebastian wasn’t prepared to let her just run away from what happened to Ivy. Pain began to swamp her mind, heart, and body. She didn’t want to deal with this. There was no other distraction she could throw in her own way. Anything she was going to feel would hit her like a tidal wave yet again in a matter of moments.

“How did she die?” Candra asked.

Chapter Sixteen

Daylight had flooded the room by the time Sebastian had managed to drag his eyes open a few hours earlier, and the very first thought that had stuck him was: one day. That was all the time they had left before the ball. His second thought had centered on the mess of chocolate and dark gold-colored hair splayed out across his chest and the small murmur of dispute that Candra had released when he’d shifted her away from him a little. Last night had been confusing in the worst possible way. She had practically thrown herself at him, and in a move that Sebastian considered would probably lose him his guy stripes forever, he’d had to say no.

Everything seemed to be turning into one nightmare after another after another, beginning the day he had found Brie and Candra. If he could take that day back now, he would in a heartbeat, but then he wouldn’t have woken up with Candra’s eyelashes fluttering against his chest. Of course, he had finally caught on to what Lofi could see from the beginning: His reasons for wanting to stick close to Candra were not as innocent as he wanted to believe. Sebastian was in love for the first time ever, and he couldn’t say with any honesty that he was enjoying it. If they had never flown, he could have continued to live in blissful ignorance. It was then, as he’d swept Candra up into the air and had experienced the most overwhelming feeling of wanting to keep her there forever, that he’d known.

He couldn’t pinpoint the moment it happened. He’d like to think it was a gradual thing from the moments he spent watching her and then getting to know her, but he did know the moment he realized it.

At least he hadn’t turned into some kind of lovesick puppy, he reasoned. He still felt like himself. Everything about him was still the same, just with the added realization that he was actually capable of a level of emotion he’d never considered possible. He wasn’t different around Candra, just a better version of himself. It didn’t matter because in one day it would all be over.

When she’d finally woken during the night and he’d given her some aspirin, she’d been so distraught and furious that she’d rambled about it being him that had died. Like a total messed-up, love-poisoned idiot, he had let her because it had felt good to hear it, regardless of whether she meant it or not, but he had been totally unprepared. Sebastian had known the moment she had straddled his legs that they were headed into dangerous, uncharted territory for him. He had never brought feelings into the equation before in intimate relations. Anyone else, any other time, he would have just gone with it, but he didn’t.

Instead, Sebastian had told her what he knew. Ivy had walked into a store and had become a statistic when some guy had decided to commit armed robbery and another guy working behind the counter had decided to try to stop him. Ivy had been caught in the crossfire, and being human, there had been nothing any of them could have done to save her after she’d been fatally injured. The Watchers keeping an eye on her had been powerless.

Candra had been angry again when he’d finished, but fortunately for Sebastian, managed to refrain from striking him. She cried and had refused to accept that no one could have helped Ivy and demanded to know what use they were if they couldn’t save one human girl who had only just begun to live. She had even begged a little until he convinced her it wasn’t their decision when someone’s time ran out.

He could see it was hitting her hard; he had never seen so many tears come from one human being. Candra’s emotions were raw, inflamed, and she was vulnerable. He didn’t have the perspective or experience to deal with what she was feeling. Sebastian was all tapped out from merely holding her. Be that as it may, he tried to compare it to how he felt when Brie left, his only frame of reference for losing someone so unexpectedly and cruelly.

Even then he couldn’t, because he didn’t deal. At least Candra had some fight in her. For Sebastian, it had been a matter of simply refusing to believe Brie’s defection was reality. His denial had been palpable for several months. He had carried it around with him like a shield, and every time someone had tried to fling the reality that she was gone from his life, he had held his shield up. He had stayed on his side where his delusion kept him from accepting that Brie hadn’t been stolen away from him. He had only recently accepted the truth: that Brie felt her path in life lay elsewhere.

If he couldn’t deal with his shit, how was he ever going to help Candra deal with hers? Even now as Candra moved, dragging her thigh up his leg, it was pretty difficult to not think of what could have happened the previous night.

She shifted again, and Sebastian knew she was waking. A quick glance at the clock beside her bed told him it was already late afternoon. He kissed the top of her hair as she moved again, stretching her body against him. Sebastian could smell himself on her and smiled, then cringed a little. Really was that all it took? he berated himself. Clearly there was a Neanderthal part of him after all and it wanted to acknowledge he was spending nights in Candra’s bed, which meant she was his, when he knew she belonged to no one but herself. If she belonged to him, he would never allow her to make the decisions she was making. If she belonged to Draven, she would already be gone.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly and hummed into his chest, still fighting sleep. Sebastian wanted to let her, thinking she must still be tired, and yet there was the other part, the part that selfishly shifted and fidgeted, knowing he would wake her, because they were wasting time.

Sebastian instantly felt like crap when Candra looked at him with eyes still swollen and bloodshot from crying. Her pupils dilated almost indiscernibly, and he saw the instant she went from that waking state where everything was confused to remembering with savage clarity. Her lips turned down at the corners, and her flushed face suddenly paled. Her bottom lip pouted and quivered as her heart picked up pace, banging an uneven beat again his chest.

She silently searched his expression in an effort to garner some reassurance that the day before had been nothing but a bad dream. It was reassurance Sebastian couldn’t give her.

After a moment, Candra sighed painfully and placed her head against Sebastian’s chest.

His T-shirt grew damp where her tears began to fall again.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered for what felt like the thousandth time.

Candra sniffled, abruptly sitting up, raking her fingers through her tangled hair. Without a word, she scooted to the edge of the bed and stood, taking a deep breath that caused her slim shoulders to rise and fall sharply. It was only when she turned her head to the side and Sebastian saw her face in profile that he knew something was very wrong. Her eyes were damp and her pale skin was blotched over her cheeks, at least where he could see through her hair, but there was no emotion in her expression, in the way she held her body ramrod straight or in her eyes. She looked distant, like a ghost.

Sebastian instinctively reached forward to grab her hand, only to have her snatch it away. A weird, alien feeling shot through him. Was this what rejection felt like? If so, he had no desire to feel it again. He sat up, frowning, and pulled his knees up so he could rest his elbows on them and pushed out a harsh breath through clenched teeth. He threaded his fingers through his hair, trying to make sense of yet another twist in Candra’s behavior.

“Thank you for staying with me,” she said quietly.

It caught Sebastian off balance. Where else would he be? He had been with her every night for months.

“I’m going to take a shower, and then I need to go to Ivy’s house to pay my respects,” she said, taking a black dress from her wardrobe.

“Candra,” he started kindly as she once again turned her face away. He didn’t know how to say it without sounding cruel. “Her body won’t have been released yet. There will be procedures. Any services won’t take place for days.”

The fingers of Candra’s hand nearest to him twitched, but that was good, he thought. It meant she was feeling something. When she spoke again, her voice was shaky, like she was trying to talk normally but couldn’t quite manage it.

“Ivy’s family is Irish. It’s a tradition. They will be expecting me there today. Ivy is my friend, and I’m going.”

Sebastian nodded even though she couldn’t see him, and he watched her walk into her bathroom and close the door, never once making eye contact. It wasn’t lost on him that she referred to Ivy in the present tense, and he wondered if she was taking refuge behind a shield of her own, in a vain attempt to protect herself from all the changes in her life that she had little or no control over.

The water felt fantastic. Candra was sore all over; even her hair hurt. It sort of reminded her of the hangover she’d suffered after drinking angel wine. The only difference was that she needed more than pain medication and water to make the feeling go away. Candra washed her hair and scrubbed her skin much harder than necessary as she tried to dissect what she was feeling…slightly numb, but even the thought of Ivy and the terrible fear she must have felt in the moments before her death made a painful sob catch in Candra’s throat. She swallowed it down, pressing her lips together. She knew Sebastian was hovering right outside the bathroom door; she could see his shadow under the small gap at the bottom.

It was so beyond messed up. She should have told Ivy the truth; she should have told Sebastian the truth about what happened with Draven instead of pouncing on him in the middle of the night. The thought made her already heated cheeks burn. She closed her eyes and placed her face directly under the scalding spray. She had read once that it was natural to want to do something life affirming when a loved one died. She couldn’t completely write her behavior off as that, simply because she didn’t think she would have had the same reaction if she had woken up with anyone else by her side. The fact remained that she had fallen in love with Sebastian, and she wanted to be close to him.

In the cold light of day, Candra felt differently. Once again, her life had changed forever. Yet to her shame, every thought was for herself, not for Ivy. She should have told Ivy the truth about what she was and about angels because it would have alleviated her own conscience. Then again, how could it possibly have made Ivy’s life better to know supernatural creatures existed? Candra was sad for herself because Ivy was the one relationship she—maybe—could have held onto, and now she didn’t have that. Of course there was the instant she had actually been glad it was Ivy and not Sebastian. What kind of a monster did that make her? Maybe Draven was wrong from the beginning; maybe they all were. Candra wondered if she wasn’t just a soulless monster like all the other Nephilim. She had never felt as flawed or weak, or human, in her life.

Candra turned off the spray and saw the shadow disappear from under the door. When she was growing up, she’d wanted to save the world. She’d wanted to help people and learn to heal. The day she’d told Sebastian she was going to accept Draven, she’d felt empowered because she was doing something that no one else in the world was capable of. She’d had delusions of grandeur. How could she save the world when she couldn’t even save Ivy? The worst kind of death was reserved for those left breathing, knowing that they were insignificant and powerless against it.

Her hand lifted gingerly to the mirror in front of her and wiped the condensation away. She grazed one finger over her own reflection, tracing the still slightly swollen skin below her eyes.

Candra knew that she was lying to herself again. She pretended that every step she took toward Sebastian was insignificant and pushed it from her mind, but each one was momentous in its own way, and she was always moving toward him. One step forward, and one smaller step back, inching toward him and the future which still seemed inevitable; both of them would end this with a broken heart. Or they would be together in the midst of a war, and right now, Candra couldn’t help at least considering it. She was already so close to the abyss. All it would take was one more short step to fall in and disappear, because surely choosing war made her no better than the old Nephilim. Would Sebastian even want her if he knew the battle raging inside her?

She dried her hair and dressed slowly in a black wrap dress and high-heel pumps. She looked like a grown-up, a calm, controlled grown-up, and she was glad of that one mercy. No one would be able to judge from her exterior that she was falling apart on the inside or that she didn’t feel mature at all. She felt like a little kid who wanted to be held, cuddled, and told that she was safe and the big bad world could never hurt her. She wanted Sebastian to be that person.

When Candra came back out, Sebastian was sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands folded in his lap. He stood up immediately, and his eyebrows drew down as he took in her appearance. He clucked his tongue, waving his hand up and down his body.

“I should probably stop by the house to change before we go.”

“You don’t need to,” Candra said as she put her phone and keys into a shoulder bag. She kept her back to him, aware of the coolness of her tone, and she knew he’d pick up on it.

“I want to,” Sebastian assured her. “You made an effort. I should too.”

Candra bit the inside of her cheek, guessing from his tone that Sebastian’s eyes would be burning holes in her back as he tried to understand the abrupt change in her behavior. She closed her eyes tightly and breathed out heavily through her nose. “No, I mean you don’t need to come with me. I can go by myself. I’m sure Brie will drop by after work. I can catch a ride home with her.”

Candra turned, keeping her expression guarded and her eyes trained on the sharp outline of his collarbone through his T-shirt. She didn’t want him to know why she was doing this. Of anyone, Sebastian was the one person she didn’t want to see her defeated, because that was how she felt. What good did it do her to have a best friend and loving her dearly, only to have her snatched away when Candra needed her the most? What good did it do her to have a mother in Brie when she would never be allowed a relationship with her? And what good did it do to love Sebastian, when she was going lose him too? Love didn’t feel like a blessing anymore; it felt like a curse…a punishment. Candra truly believed she was doing him a kindness. Telling him how she felt would only be condemning him to the same fate as her: a lifetime of knowing it had all been for nothing. At least for her, it would be over relatively quickly. For him, it would be much different.

Like a heartbeat, time quickened when least expected. It skipped beats, and in the blink of an eye, another day was passed, but sometimes it slowed to the lethargic, strained tick tock of a waiting heart. For a heart left behind to sit on the sidelines and watch life pass by hour by hour, moment by moment, time could be a long road stretching into the horizon with seemingly no destination. For a perpetual heart like Sebastian’s, there was no measure of time, and his pain would be endless. Candra would spare him that, if she could.

Candra was a dark path for Sebastian. She could so easily choose having the blood of thousands or hundreds of thousands, both human and Watcher, on her hands over being without him. She guessed that Sebastian thought she’d said the things she’d said out of shock, which was only partly true. He believed she was fundamentally good; he’d given that as the reason he didn’t kill her. Sebastian had misjudged her, and it was better for him that he didn’t know it.

“Look at me, damn it. You think by now that I don’t know you’re avoiding me when you do that?” he spat angrily. He could see right through her.

Candra moved her gaze to Sebastian’s eyes, holding the bag in front of her body protectively and remaining expressionless. His jaw was clenched tightly, and the sound of him gulping cut through the sudden quiet in the room. He stared at her beseechingly, his brown eyes wild and mystified.

She wondered if he expected her to relent as soon as she looked at him, but it wasn’t that simple. She wasn’t good in the way he believed her to be. She attracted tragedy the way the old Nephilim attracted it. It wasn’t like Candra had started to believe she was evil, but the desire inside her to stay with Sebastian, regardless of cost, was so strong. It left her wondering whether malevolence was more dominant within her than he wanted to believe.

“I’m not avoiding anything,” Candra snapped.

“So, lying as well—that’s so much better.” Sebastian’s lips pulled up on one side more than the other. It wasn’t a smile. He was being cocky, his frustration with her coming out the only way he knew how.

“I’m not lying. Brie will be there. Call her and check, since you obviously don’t trust me.” Candra grabbed her phone from her bag and threw it at him. He caught it with ease. Her heart had started to race, adrenaline firing through her body, making her breathe fast.

“I don’t want to make a phone call,” he snapped, color pinking up in his cheeks. “I want to know why you are shutting me out. Did I do something or say something wrong? I know I’m not good with the emotional stuff, but I thought we were friends.”

“Friends?” Candra parroted.

“Yeah.”

“We’re not friends,” she barked, snatching the phone from his hand. Her brain was stabbing an accusing finger at her. Liar, liar, pants on fire. “Ivy and I were friends. She was the one there for me for all those years I was kept hidden from you!” Candra pushed her finger into his chest forcefully and was mildly surprised when he staggered.

Sebastian was bigger than Candra and one hundred percent sinewy muscle. It wasn’t physical weakness that made him stumble. She had hit on a raw nerve.

“All you’ve done is bring me misery and heartache. I was happy before, without you or your stalkerish, clingy ways—”

“Clingy?” His eyebrows shot up practically into his hairline.

“Yes. Clingy, insecure, stubborn, bad-tempered, and so egotistical that it’s beyond your realm of understanding that anyone would ever want to leave you, that anyone could be happy without you in their life. Guess what? I was!” Candra ranted and then had to suck in a much needed breath.

Sebastian paled, and Candra felt bile rising. The worst part for her was that most of it was true. She knew these parts of him, but she knew they were only parts, tiny parts of the complex being in front of her, glowering and clenching and unclenching his fist. The small vein on his temple throbbed where he had raked away the pale golden strands of hair that normally fell across it.

“Don’t you think I feel like the lowest form of life for bringing this to your door? Don’t you think that I constantly regret the day I ever laid eyes on you?” he said coldly with a deadly calm.

Hurt coursed through her; how could she not believe he meant it? She wanted to hurt him and, with equal measure, didn’t. It was all so confusing, but it seemed her brain had disconnected from her mouth. “Not as much as I regret it, and I look forward to the day you are out of my life for good.”

Sebastian drew back like she’d hit him…again. Candra reminded herself it was for his own good. It was better this way. The longer he stayed around her, the more likely it was she would give into her feelings for him or he would see she wasn’t a saving angel. She was just a scared little girl. She took the opportunity of his silence to storm past him. He didn’t move at all, not even when her shoulder brushed his arm.

Candra paused at the door, slammed by another wave of remorse, thinking this situation was yet a further example of how cruel she was capable of being.

“I need some breathing space,” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear before she left…alone.

Ivy’s home wasn’t far. Her apartment building was walking distance, but Candra didn’t feel like walking. She felt as if she hadn’t slept in weeks, and her pumps weren’t exactly walker friendly, so she hailed a cab not far from home, ignoring the winged creatures watching her.

The building itself was old and worn. There were dark stains on the bare concrete and large paneled windows. Most of the huge windows were original on the outside; people tended to do that in Acheron. If a building was refurbished, only the inside was repainted. It was intended to preserve the appearance of the old city. Instead, together with the modern buildings, it left the city mismatched, like an outfit thrown together. That was an accurate description of its residents too: a melting pot of beings flung together by design or circumstance.

Candra passed by a few men smoking outside the entrance and knew they had come from Ivy’s home. They were all turned out in their best mourning wear: black suits accompanied by crisp white shirts, a uniform for the bereaved. One of the older men she recognized as Ivy’s grandfather nodded an acknowledgement in a move that made Candra start because of its similarity to the Watcher greeting. He caught her reaction and smiled sadly, maybe thinking it was grief that made her jumpy. She smiled in return, acknowledging him, but didn’t approach. Instead, she made her way inside the building and took a jarring elevator ride to the seventh floor.

The apartment door was open, and the sound of muted, chattering voices floated through the air. Candra walked through the corridor to the main room, past family and friends drinking tea from china cups and tumblers of golden brown liquid. She found Ivy’s mom, Sheila, in the living room, sitting on her overstuffed couch and being comforted by another woman dressed in black. Candra presumed the woman was one of her sisters, since they shared the same mahogany hair and large, stricken doe eyes. Ivy came from a massive extended family, but Candra hadn’t realized how massive until that precise moment in a roomful of people, so many with shared features.

As soon as Sheila spotted Candra, a fresh wave of tears rolled over her ruddy cheeks, and she stood, reaching across the small coffee table scattered with teacups, creamers, and sugar bowls.

“Oh, Candra, thank you so much for coming. It’s been so terrible, so terrible,” she cried as Candra released her. Sheila appeared to zone out a little for a brief instant before regaining herself. “Sit, please sit.” She shooed away the occupant of the armchair closest to her, a young guy who seemed to have already imbibed his fair share of whiskey, judging by his glazed eyes and slightly unsteady gait.

Candra sat down, smoothing her dress over her thighs, and lightly clasped her hands in her lap before one of them was snatched away. Sheila held Candra’s hand between both of hers, rubbing it briskly like she was trying to warm it up and smiling again, a little maniacally.

“Have some tea, Candra,” she offered, waving to the china strewn table.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Candra replied softly.

She strongly suspected Sheila had been medicated. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils dilated ever so slightly.

“You’ll have some, just one cup,” Sheila insisted with a slight Dublin twang, which was bizarre since she had never left Acheron to Candra’s knowledge, and she had never noticed it before.

Definitely medicated.

“I’ll refresh the kettle, Sheila,” the woman beside her said, patting Sheila’s leg before scooping up two tea pots from the table.

“I’m so sorry,” Candra told her, feeling her throat tighten. “Where is Frank?”

Sheila stopped her assault on Candra’s hand and simply held it between hers in a way that Candra had to continue sitting forward within her reach. Sheila sighed deeply.

“It was all getting a bit much for him around here, so I sent him to the liquor store with one of his boys to restock. They probably stopped off somewhere. I can’t blame him, you know.” She paused when a little sob seemed to catch her off guard, and she leaned forward to whisper. “Between you and me, the doctor gave me a little something to help me through today.”

Candra was right. She nodded and forced a small smile. Sheila smiled too and lifted her hand to tap the side of her nose winking, indicating it was to be their secret, although Candra was pretty sure anyone within fifty feet could tell.

“Have the police been able to tell you anything? Do they know what happened?” Candra asked hesitantly.

Sheila’s eyes fell downcast to their joined hands. “They have the boy in custody. He is just a kid. Sixteen, can you believe that? Where does a sixteen-year-old get a gun? God help him.”

“God help him?” Candra repeated, shocked by Sheila’s sadness apparently extending to the boy who took Ivy’s life.

“Yes, the boy was hungry, Candra, and the police told us he swears the gun went off by accident. He never meant to hurt anyone.”

“If he never meant to hurt anyone, the gun wouldn’t have been loaded,” Candra complained. “If he never meant to hurt anyone, he wouldn’t have had a gun in the first place.”

“No, no,” Sheila hushed her, “you can’t think that way. I don’t know why this has happened. I don’t understand why my beautiful baby is gone when I’m left here to struggle on without her. But I trust that God had a reason for calling Ivy home.”

“How can you say that? Ivy didn’t believe in destiny or fate. She believed we make our own choices.”

“I have to believe there’s a reason. How else can we make sense of this? I have to believe God has a plan.”

“What if he doesn’t, or what if he doesn’t even care anymore?”

Sheila hummed thoughtfully and picked up an empty cup, taking a sip without even noticing.

“Ivy had faith that there was more than just this—” Sheila’s hand waved around her. “That’s what faith is, believing in something bigger than ourselves. She was a good girl, and I have to believe she’s gone to a better place.”

Candra frowned; she didn’t know what to believe anymore. She had a luxury others didn’t have, because she knew for sure that heaven existed, and still it didn’t make it easier that Ivy was gone. Besides, would it eventually be heaven for her, without her father there, or Brie, or Sebastian?

The other woman returned with a tea pot and a fresh cup. She smiled kindly and placed it on the table before starting to clear up the dirty cups. Sheila placed a small metal strainer on a cup and poured some tea in, adding milk and two heaped teaspoons of sugar.

“Hot, sweet tea, it will do you good,” she said, handing it to Candra and then pouring one for herself, pausing after two spoons of sugar and staring at the spoon for a moment, then popping another two in the cup. “She used to call you her angel.”

“Excuse me?”

“She said you looked out for her, kept her from being bullied. She said being your friend made her special. From the very first day of school, you were her guardian angel.”

Candra was struck dumb for a moment. Ivy had never told Candra that. She guessed there were things they didn’t tell each other after all. Maybe she was there for Ivy at times, but Ivy was special without her, and she hadn’t been there when it mattered.

Candra looked down to her hands, wringing them together until a gentle hand lay across them. She looked up into Sheila’s glassy eyes.

“Candra, I know right now we all doubt ourselves. Could we have done something? Made different decisions? We’re all being a little selfish and thinking about what we’ve lost. I’m so angry at that boy I could make a stew out of him.”

Candra guessed Sheila didn’t know how disturbing it was when she stopped to smack her lips together as if thinking about something tasty, because she just continued on. “It’s okay. It’s normal…the doctor was telling me just this morning, all part of the process, he says. It’s not what you think about doing that’s important. At time like this, you can’t control your thoughts much. What’s important is the thoughts you act on.”

Candra felt the tears building in her eyes and bit her lip brutally to hold them back. It was so strange; she knew Sheila was talking about Ivy, but she could have been speaking about Candra’s situation too. She wished had a fraction of Sheila’s faith in this great plan she so believed in.

Sheila sat back a little, still holding onto Candra’s hand, and blinked a few times. For an instant Candra wondered if she was about to doze off. The other woman beside her went to take her hand, mouthing “sorry,” but Sheila shrugged her off.

“You’re a good girl, Candra. You take care of yourself; Ivy wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. You know, I think she was right. Look at the light just shinning out of you. You’re a proper angel.”

Candra’s eyes widened.

“Right…I have to make Frank’s ham sandwiches,” Sheila finished, suddenly looking a little confused and peering around with squinted eyes like she was searching for someone.

“Okay,” the other woman interrupted. “I think you should probably have a lie down, Sheila. I’ll take care of the sandwiches.” She took Sheila’s hand from Candra’s and helped Sheila to stand. Sheila nodded, choking back a sob. Candra stood quickly and threw her arms around Ivy’s mother. She probably wouldn’t remember any of the conversation, but Candra would.

Chapter Seventeen

“Sebastian is very worried about you,” Brie said.

Candra was slicing red peppers for the chicken noodle soup that they were making together, and the scent of frying chicken filled the kitchen.

“When isn’t he worried?” she mumbled.

Brie shrugged and glanced over her shoulder from where she was stirring stock. “More than usual then.”

“Is that even possible?”

Brie chuckled. “I didn’t think so.” She paused for a moment, and suddenly the silence was deafening. Candra knew she was working up to something. “You know,” her stepmother started without looking back to her, “you don’t have to tell me what’s going on with you and him…but I wish you would.”

Candra sighed, picking up the chopping board to push the peppers into a bowl, and started chopping onions without answering.

“I know I should have stepped in sooner and told him to back off. I know I’ve let you down in so many ways. I don’t know why I didn’t make him leave.” Brie turned then and picked up the bowl from the table, standing over Candra. “I didn’t see this developing so far between you two. Even when Lofi suggested he had ulterior motives for hanging around.” Brie frowned, making the line deepen between her eyebrows. Candra returned to the onions, forcing her attention on them. “You were always bickering. I thought he was simply protecting you, and I felt…weak. I felt weak because I couldn’t do it and he could. So I did nothing.”

“It’s true there’s a fine line between love and hate,” Candra said offhandedly.

“What?” Brie asked quietly, and Candra cringed when she realized her mistake. “You can’t love him.”

Clearly, I could, Candra thought.

She looked up at Brie, blinking away the tears that were forming in her eyes from the onions. Brie’s face had gone quite pale.

“This is awful,” Brie lamented, bringing her hand up to wipe over her face.

Candra stood, taking the bowl from Brie’s other hand, and carried that and the chopping board to the stove. She dumped the contents of both into the pot, ignoring when the boiling stock splattered her arm.

“No, being in love with Sebastian is not awful. My best friend being gunned down because she probably just wanted a soda is awful. Being forced into a bizarre arranged relationship is awful. Being lied to my entire life is awful,” Candra ranted, feeling her blood pressure escalate and dropping the bowl into the sink with too much force. The impact made the bowl crack loudly. She washed her hands quickly and spun around, placing her still wet hands on the edge of the counter for support. “But you don’t need to worry because I’m not in love with him,” she snapped.

Brie sucked in a sharp breath, shaking her head as if she was disagreeing with Candra. “I’m sorry,” she forced out between her fingers that were pressed to her mouth and then sank down into the seat Candra had vacated moments ago.

The irritation behind Candra’s sudden outburst was fading fast; she didn’t have the will to hold onto it. She felt so tired, drained as if she had been awake for days, and she didn’t want to fight on their last evening together. She didn’t want to sit for hours hugging and crying either. She wanted this to be just like every other evening, like her life wasn’t changing tomorrow.

“I can’t bear the idea of this being any harder for you, Candra,” Brie sobbed, scratching her index fingernail on the wood of the table. “If I could take your place, I would. You know that, right?”

She looked up at Candra beseechingly. Her large brown eyes grew huge against her sunken cheekbones, and Candra felt the irritation ebb further. She turned to the stove and removed the pot from the heat before joining Brie at the table.

“I wish I understood why everyone can’t just be together.”

Brie reached over to hold Candra’s hand and smiled sadly. “I don’t understand it myself most of the time. It seems so futile, all these years later. There was so much hurt and anger. We all needed a direction for it, so we directed it at each other. After a time, it became part of us. It’s how it is.”

“How it is, isn’t how it should be.”

“I know.”

“You know, I’m not giving up. This is not me giving up.” Candra pulled her hand back and rubbed her face out of sheer frustration.

“Maybe you will be the one that changes things.” Brie smiled.

“I don’t know. My life in comparison to a Watcher’s is barely a blip in time. It feels insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I still don’t understand why my father would do this to me and to you. I just wish I knew what it is Draven really wants.”

“I wish I could give you the answers.” Brie paused and scowled down at the table, before looking back to Candra. “You should know one thing: your father loved you. He loved you very, very much. He didn’t abandon you and leave you to deal with all this. He believed he would be here for you. It was the driver who made the choice to get behind the wheel after drinking for six hours straight.” She sighed again and grabbed Candra’s hand. “And you are not insignificant. You could never be. What both your parents did for me was more than I ever imagined possible. They gave me a daughter.”

Candra sniffled and bit her lip before she reached over, hugging Brie warmly, once again allowing her fingers to run over the rough bone where Brie’s wings used to be.

“I have something for you.”

“What?” Candra asked, quickly wiping a stray tear.

Brie pulled back, her eyes a little red-rimmed, to look at Candra. She smiled, then stood up. Candra followed her upstairs to her room where she pulled off the blanket sitting on top of the box at the end of her bed.

“I have some of your mother’s things. You never expressed the least bit of interest in them before, but I think now you should have them.” Brie kneeled down in front of the box and lifted the lid.

Candra sat on the edge of the bed, watching her. She imagined her lack of interest in her mother probably looked strange to some people, but she figured how can you miss what you never had? She felt no connection to her. She supposed it was because Brie had always been her mother.

Brie pulled out the photograph album and handed it to Candra. She immediately started flicking through; it was just like all the others at the Watchers’ house.

“Why didn’t you want me to see this before?” Candra asked curiously.

“I didn’t want you to ask questions about the others. I’m sorry.”

Next, Brie handed her a small pile of photos. They were pictures of Candra’s father and mother together in various embraces. They looked so young and so in love. One picture was her mother with her long, dark blond hair being blown about in the wind, waving her hands in an attempt to block the camera. There was a hand peeking out from the corner of the shot, holding her still; Candra presumed it was her father. She ran her fingers lightly over the picture of the happy young girl.

“I’m nothing like her,” Candra mused aloud.

“You just think that,” Brie said kindly, pulling out a cardboard box. She scooted over to the edge of the bed, placing it beside Candra and opened it to reveal something soft wrapped up in tissue paper. Candra watched Brie carefully pull back the paper before lifting out a dress. “This was your mother’s.”

“Really?” Candra asked, running her fingers over the black, pleated crepe fabric. “It’s lovely.”

Brie stood up and took the dress with her. It swished across the floor, a simple empire line nipped in with a matching draped sash below the strapless bust.

“She loved music, your mother. She was wearing this dress to the opera with your father the very first night I met her. She loved every type of music.”

She stopped and pulled out a picture from the bottom of the pile Candra was holding, and there she was, Candra’s mother, standing outside the opera hall in Acheron wearing the dress, smiling, her long hair swept up in a chignon. It was then Candra noticed the small curve of her belly, barely visible because of the cut of the dress. She was pregnant, not very far along by the size of her bump, and glowing with happiness.

“I thought maybe you would like to wear this dress to the ball,” Brie suggested and laid the dress across Candra’s lap. Candra ran her fingers over the dress again, feeling the soft-textured fabric as Brie returned to the trunk. A delicate flowery fragrance floated up in the air around Candra, and she inhaled, closing her eyes and trying to imagine her mother happy and in love, looking forward to the future with her father and her.

Candra opened her eyes to see Brie was holding a worn, black-covered sketchbook in her hand.

“I only knew your mother in the last few months of her life before she died. I don’t think it ever occurred to Payne that something would happen to your mother. He was more concerned about her being protected and you being shielded. They asked me to be your godmother, and I felt truly honored that they would trust me. When your mother died, the only way to keep you hidden was to fall, so we could all disappear. And it was something I did without reservation. I would do it again in a heartbeat. You are worth it.” Brie smiled up at her and reached forward with one hand to pat the back of Candra’s. “People presumed we were a couple, and it was easier that way, so we let them…and you. I’m sorry.”

Candra tried to smile back at her but couldn’t quite manage it. She just felt so tired. She was tired of fighting and trying to make sense of everything. She wanted to go back to worrying about what course she was going to take and boys—human boys.

“Here.” Brie handed her the sketchbook.

Candra opened it and began turning the pages. It was filled with drawing of wings and images she recognized as her father. The pencil strokes were thick and shaky, amateurish and little out of proportion.

“You have her smile,” Brie explained softly, sitting back on her heels on the floor and clasping her hands in her lap, “and sometimes her smirk.”

Candra looked at her from under her eyelashes, smirking on cue and making Brie chuckle.

“Why didn’t you ever show this to me before? Did she draw these?” Candra asked and turned another page, quickly realizing why. There were several pictures of her father with his immense wings in varies stages of extension.

“I didn’t want you to ask questions that I couldn’t answer. I wanted you to be safe, Candra. That’s all I ever wanted, and yes, they are hers.”

“She never saw his real wings,” Candra thought aloud, remembering that humans couldn’t see an angel’s wings. She questioned how easily she would have taken Sebastian’s word if she hadn’t been able to see his wings for herself. “I imagine he was beautiful.”

“He was,” Brie said. “Your father was a good man and beautiful, right from his very core to the tip of his feathers.

Candra grimaced, looking back down at the drawing again, wondering what his wings really looked like. The drawing wasn’t a very good reference. “They aren’t very good.” She laughed slightly awkwardly, knowing she probably shouldn’t.

“Neither are yours,” Brie joked sarcastically. “Another thing you have in common.”

“Har, har,” Candra responded with another smirk.

Brie looked down to her hands and sighed. “It seems you have one more thing in common now. You love a Watcher just as she did.”

Candra closed the cover and put the sketchbook down beside her on the bed. “When you left everything behind, how did you do it?”

“I didn’t look back, Candra.” Brie answered right away. “It sounds harsh, but I couldn’t. I needed to look to the future and why I was doing it.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Well, apparently neither could I, not forever at least. The past eventually catches up with all of us. In my case, it was because of you. I always feared we would be discovered. If you were important enough to hide, you were important enough that someone would come looking for you. I don’t think I ever honestly believed I would have Gabe in my life again. I thought he would have met someone else by now.”

“You didn’t,” Candra pointed out the obvious.

Brie smiled sadly. “That’s the thing about love. We don’t control it, no matter how we hope to or wish we could.”

It didn’t help much. None of it did. Although Candra had to admit she was learning more about herself over the last months than she had in the last eighteen years. Everything she had planned and everything she was always so sure about had changed. She realized now she had been too sure of herself, too convinced of her own invincibility, that nothing could touch her. She had this enormous responsibility hanging over her head, and she always knew it would be hard to see her promise through. She’d just had no idea how hard it would be.

“I have some assignments to work on and some more packing. I should get to it,” Candra said, scooting off the bed and picking up the dress and sketchpad. “Thanks for these.”

Sebastian spent a long day doing very little of anything. He visited a few bars, planning to drink himself into oblivion, but couldn’t get past his first shot. He tried to write and spent two hours staring at blank pages. After he read the same paragraph several times and still hadn’t retained a word, he ended up flinging the book at his wall. He considered following Candra, but she’d made it perfectly clear she didn’t want him around. In fact, she’d made it perfectly clear that she’d never wanted him around from the beginning. He knew it was right that she should feel that way. He knew in the beginning she hadn’t wanted him anywhere near her, but he allowed himself to be convinced things had changed. He wanted to believe she hadn’t meant the things she said to him before she stormed out, but worried she had.

When Sebastian had watched over her silently, he had been afraid to know her. Some hidden part of him that he refused to pay credence to, knew he would like her. Once that happened, he became afraid of bigger things: he was afraid to lose her, but it was more than that; despite his bravado he was afraid to love her. In the end, falling in love with Candra was something beyond even his control. Of all the things Sebastian ever struggled with, the biggest was his need to control. Apparently that made him clingy and stalkerish.

So instead of returning to the townhouse Candra and Brie shared, the way he normally would have, he spent the entire evening in his room—more specifically the chair in the corner of his room with his earphones in and his arms wrapped around his knees, attempting to distract himself with music and fighting the urge to follow Candra, call her, or go to her. He blamed himself for the entire situation Candra found herself in, everything from her confused emotions to Draven manipulating her, to his inability to protect Ivy. Lofi and Gabe both tried to convince him otherwise. They said it would have been a matter of time before the others found Candra regardless. Sebastian preferred to take the blame. It was easier to accept some kind of responsibility rather than admit he had no control over the events shaping his life and Candra’s.

He felt jittery and confused. Time lost meaning. The hours seemed to stretch beyond imagination, and Sebastian began making deals with himself to stay away. One more hour and he would reconsider his decision to do what Candra wanted and leave her alone. Twenty minutes, fifteen minutes, ten…He had worked his way down to seconds, and was sitting in darkness, swinging the wires of his earphones around as if about to lasso someone at any moment, by the time he heard the front door open. The sound was closely followed by hesitant footfalls on the stairs. They stopped at the landing, and he held his breath, imagining at any moment they would turn and rush back down. It would probably be for the best, but all Sebastian could think was, So help me, I want those footsteps nearer.

He gripped onto the arm of the seat and waited, hoping if they retreated that he would have the strength not to follow. His heart pounded blood through his body, and he struggled to hear anything other than the heavy thump, thump, thump, but then he heard movement.

Candra stopped outside the door, hesitating again, and Sebastian heard one muted tap. He imagined she raised her hand to knock and changed her mind, instead pressing her palm to the door. He had the most intense desire to rush over there and fling the door open, but it had to be her choice…always her choice.

The door knob twisted, and Sebastian allowed himself to release the breath he was holding as a blast of relief spread through his body.

Candra came into the room, wearing a long jacket, only opening the door enough to creep in and gingerly tread across the floorboards toward Sebastian’s bed. She didn’t see him watching her from the corner. It was only when she got nearer and her eyes adjusted to the darkness that she noticed his bed was empty.

He smiled at the disappointment in her expression and reached behind him to flick on the free standing lamp, bathing the room in a golden light.

“Holy crap,” Candra exclaimed, spinning toward the source of the light and seeing Sebastian. Her hand flew to her chest as she tried to calm herself. “I thought you would be asleep. It’s the middle of the night.”

“And you’re working on your psycho murderer impression?” Sebastian accused bitterly, repeating the same accusation she made the very first time she found him in her bedroom after the party. “Were you planning to finish me off in my sleep?”

“I-I—” she stammered as he watched the blush rise in her cheeks. She looked at the bed, searching for words, and forced out a strained sigh, closing her eyes tightly. “Why does everything have to be a battle between us? I’m tired. Actually I’m utterly drained, and I couldn’t sleep. It turns out I seem to have gotten out of the practice of sleeping alone in my room at night. I couldn’t call my best friend because she’s gone.” Her voice broke and she stopped, pulling in a deep breath before she continued. “This was a mistake. I’m sorry—for everything.” She turned quickly, her long hair whipping around her face, and dashed toward the door.

Sebastian was faster and pressed his hand over hers, cupping the doorknob. He was behind her, and his other hand was held flat against the door so she couldn’t open it. The smell of apples rose from her hair, accosting him with her scent. Unintentionally, he closed the minute space so his chest touched her back. The heat of her body seeped through his chest, sending his heart into a tailspin, beating so fast it hurt. Candra shivered, and the resulting movement of her body made his own respond. Blood sizzled beneath his flesh and rushed every place in his body where they touched, so deep was his body’s basic longing for Candra. Maddening thoughts flashed through his head. Sebastian wanted her in ways he didn’t recognize or understand. He wanted to taste her skin and explore her mind and body to the point they would both be left used up, sated, and unable to think of anything besides each other. He wanted to worship her, consume her and make her part of him so that he would never have to be without her.

His fear of losing her made him reckless. How many laws of heaven was he prepared to break for this woman? Somewhere in the back of his mind Sebastian knew these thoughts were potentially dangerous. It was verging on insanity, and acting on his primal desires was out of the question. Candra wasn’t an animal to be marked or subjugated. She was his equal in so many ways and seemed to have no idea of the sway she held over him. The most insignificant actions or words from her lips had the power to ruin him.

“Wait,” he murmured into her silken tresses, aware of how much it sounded like begging. How did I become this, he asked himself, the guy that has to beg a woman for small mercies? “Don’t leave.”

“What’s the point, Sebastian?” Candra pressed her head forward and leaned it against the door. Her shoulders drooped in defeat.

Sebastian wanted her to know he understood. He knew what it was like to lose people he loved. He knew what it was like to want to blame someone and to fight against it. He had been thinking about it all day because he was losing her. “If we could just sit still and wait, instead of fighting it so hard,” he whispered close to her ear. He wasn’t sure what “it” was anymore: their feelings, the inevitable future, or the constant struggle between them? But he was sure if she just gave him a little time he could do better. He could stop messing everything up.

“I don’t know how to accept what happened to Ivy or what’s happening to me. I don’t know how to accept that there is a higher power that would allow this to happen.” Her voice was husky, like she had been crying. “There is no more time.”

Sebastian had to force his hand not to tighten over hers and give away his anger at those very questions. The fingers of his other hand strained against the door. Instead he went for distraction.

“This morning before you woke, I caught myself smiling for no reason…then I realized it wasn’t for no reason. It was because I was with you.”

Candra sighed quietly. “I don’t want you to feel that way. Please, it just makes it harder. I just want to sleep. I’m so tired.” Her body sagged, leaning into him. “Tomorrow I will fight with you, I promise. Tonight I need sleep.”

Without a word Sebastian removed his hand from hers and slid his fingers under her jacket. She complied easily, dropping her hands by her side as he pulled it from her shoulders, revealing the sweat pants and tank top she was wearing underneath. He dropped the coat to the floor beside them and scooped her up into his arms. She didn’t fight him, and he wasn’t used to seeing her defeated. It was as though someone had snuffed her light out. He thought he’d felt powerless before, but this was beyond anything he had ever experienced. He felt sick looking down on Candra, her eyes closed and her head leaned into his chest as he carried her over to his bed.

He laid her down gently, pulled off her sneakers, and tugged the comforter from under her. Again she was compliant, lifting up slightly to help him. Sebastian covered her up to her shoulders and went over to switch off the lamp before crawling into the bed behind her. Candra shifted straight away, moving back toward Sebastian until her back was flush to his chest, and reached behind her to pull his arm across her body, settling his open hand on her stomach.

In that moment, Sebastian would have given anything and everything he had to take her pain away. He would have swapped places with Ivy in a heartbeat if it meant she would have been there to take Candra’s call.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“I’m sorry,” he told her, pulling her hair over her shoulder and kissing the shell of her ear.

Candra wriggled in Sebastian’s arms until she was facing him and reached up to plant a soft kiss on his lips. He wanted to prolong the kiss and the unbearable sweetness of it. He wanted to touch her in entirely inappropriate ways. He had no idea he was even capable of such restraint when instead of acting on it, he pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms and burying his nose in her hair. Sebastian missed her already. Even as she lay in his arms skirting unconsciousness, he could already imagine what it would feel like when she was gone.

It was hot, really hot, and it was hard to breathe. Candra’s face was squashed against something solid covered in soft cotton, and she was trapped. It took a few moments for her foggy memory to clear and for her to remember she had come over, hoping to sneak into Sebastian’s bed. It was his chest she was currently squished against and his mellow breathing against the top of her head.

She shimmied until he groaned, smacking his lips, and turned over, finally releasing her from the confines of his arms. His face scrunched up in the most adorable way—forming deep vertical lines between his eyebrows.

Candra lay back on the pillow and turned her head so she could watch him in profile. He was physically perfect, beautiful, from his ruffled hair to his perfectly symmetrical features and lean, muscled body. Inside he was far from perfect, but it was his imperfections that made her fall in love with him. She reached over to him, placing her hand over his heart and closing her eyes while she felt the strong rhythmic pulsing and steady rise and fall of his chest against it. Every beat was drawing her nearer to him and at the same time measuring disappearing time.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian asked quietly, placing his hand over Candra’s.

“I’m remembering you,” she explained, pushing herself up onto one elbow and looking down on him. His heart beat quickened, then slowed. “I’m sorry for waking you. It’s still early.”

“Are you feeling better?”

Candra shook her head and fell back onto her pillow again. Sebastian pushed himself up, essentially reversing their positions except that he didn’t attempt to grope her chest, although Candra wasn’t sure she would have minded. Instead Sebastian picked up a lock of Candra’s hair and began to absentmindedly twist it around his finger. Somehow it felt even more intimate and made her stomach clench remembering how she had kissed Draven the day before.

“I was giving very serious consideration to not going through with this,” she admitted. “I guess I got scared that people have too much faith in me. I’m about as far from perfect as a person can get.”

“You don’t have to be perfect. Just be yourself. Do what’s right for you,” he told her, still twisting the hair.

“Keeping every one safe feels like the right thing and being honest with you.” Candra paused for an instant. “I have something I should probably tell you.” She grimaced, closing her eyes. She absolutely didn’t want to be looking into his face.

Sebastian’s hand paused in its movement, and his breath hitched. “You kissed him,” he guessed with a strange hollow tone to his voice.

Candra opened her eyes to see he was watching. A long piece of her hair was wrapped around his finger, and in the golden glow of the rising sun filtering in the window, his face was cast in shadow. Even so, she could see his eyes were tightened.

“Technically he kissed me, but I kissed him back. It was only for a moment before I stopped him.” Candra was fully aware she was making excuses, making it seem less than it was, but at the very same time she knew the blush creeping up her neck and over her face was a dead giveaway.

The muscle in his cheek twitched when he jaw clenched, and she could practically hear his teeth grinding before he sat up. In a movement almost too quick to follow, he swung his legs off the bed and leaned forward away from her. “Why tell me? There’s nothing I can do to stop any of this, so why tell me?” His voice was still hollow, sounding as if it was coming from far away, totally unlike the night before when he’d practically begged her not to go.

“I thought…” Candra started, but didn’t know what to say. She was trying to be honest with him; clearly he didn’t appreciate her openness.

“You thought maybe you’d torture me some more?”

“No…no!” Candra exclaimed, sitting up behind him. “Why would you think that? I don’t want to lie to you. I was going to pretend it never happened, but I couldn’t do that to you. I just wanted to tell you the truth about everything. I’m sorry.”

Sitting alone in her room for most of the evening before, she had come to the conclusion she wasn’t protecting Sebastian by pushing him away, despite a very large part of her wanting to. It didn’t do either of them any good going into the future wondering if what they had was real, and she’d resolved to tell him. She didn’t want it to be the way it was with Ivy: so many things left unsaid. Candra desperately wanted to hang onto the idea she could make Draven change his mind. She was clinging to hope by a thread at this point.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Sebastian said without a hint of emotion, and Candra suddenly felt like an encroacher in his room.

Tear prickled her eyes and blurred her vision as she watched him walk to the bathroom and slam the door behind him. Sebastian was a prime candidate for split personality, and Candra didn’t understand a single one of them. He didn’t like her; he did. He was affectionate one moment, closed and cold the next. She couldn’t keep up. She heard the shower turn on, and with her stomach twisting in knots, she leapt from the bed. Candra grabbed her shoes and coat from the floor and ran from the room, slamming right into Lofi.

“Oof.” Lofi let out a loud sudden breath, holding Candra’s arms to steady herself.

“I’m sorry.” Candra squirmed at being caught in a walk of shame. She wasn’t used to sneaking out of a guy’s room. “Are you okay?”

Lofi released Candra’s arms and brushed herself down, checking everything was present and correct. Candra took the opportunity to wipe her face, ensuring there were no telltale tears. “I’m fine. Where are you headed in such a rush?” Lofi inquired suspiciously, crossing her arms and darting her eyes to the door Candra had just exited.

“I’m going home. Big day today.” Candra smiled nervously.

Lofi rubbed her hand up and down Candra’s arm reassuringly and smiled. “You are so brave. I hope you know that and understand we all appreciate what you’re doing.”

“I do,” she answered. Her shoulders and neck muscles were so tight she thought they might spasm at any moment. She didn’t want to leave things so unfinished with Sebastian. She didn’t actually know if he was still planning to attend the ball as promised. With his ever-changing personality, it was hard to tell.

Lofi linked her arm through hers and walked them toward the stairs. “I think maybe some girl time is in order today. How about you, me, and Brie spend some time beautifying ourselves for tonight?”

“Oh, yeah, okay,” Candra agreed. She wasn’t sure what girl time for Lofi entailed, but if it meant spending time with Brie, she was all up for it. She hesitated on the top step with her hand on the smooth polished wood of the rail, wanting to go home and still being reluctant to leave things with Sebastian so unresolved.

Sebastian made her so crazy. This was the last chance for them to spend time together, and he was wasting it. She didn’t even know if she would ever see him again after today. If he left the way Lofi said he would, if he didn’t show up at the ball, Candra was possibly never going to get another chance to make him see that she believed he was worth loving. She didn’t want Sebastian to believe love was a curse the way she had almost convinced herself it was. She wanted him to see that although it couldn’t work out for them, that he couldn’t just go about his life angry at everything and hiding behind his cocky grin.

“Are you okay?” Lofi asked, leaning forward to look at Candra’s face.

“I have to speak to Sebastian.”

“You just left him.” Lofi giggled.

“I forgot something. Can I meet you back at the house?”

“Sure.” Lofi beamed. “I’ll see you later.” She pulled her arm out from Candra’s and trotted down a few steps before turning back to her. “Candra?” Her head tilted to the side a little as she gazed back at her softly.

Candra didn’t say anything. She felt emotions catch in her throat and swallowed them down.

“I’m sorry this isn’t working out the way any of us would have wanted. I’m sorry about Ivy, but you know there is still always hope, right?”

“Yeah.” Candra smiled, knowing it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her hope was fading fast.

Chapter Eighteen

When Sebastian came back out of the bathroom, scrubbing at his hair with a towel, Candra was sitting on his bed, facing the door and waiting. He jumped when he saw her there, clearly expecting she had left. His skin was damp, and the top button of his jeans was opened. The band darkened from the water that had seeped through, and she could plainly see from how low they hung on his hips that he wasn’t wearing underwear. Candra marveled at how she could be so mad at him and still find him so almost irresistibly hot.

“I thought you left,” he observed casually and went to his dresser, pulling out a T-shirt.

It was obvious to her that he didn’t want to deal with this now…or ever probably, but Candra couldn’t make herself entirely regret wanting to be honest. Sebastian studiously concentrated on his clothes, something Candra knew didn’t mean an awful lot to him, and presumed what he was really consumed by was her betrayal.

He had to have fully understood it would only be a matter of time before something happened between her and Draven. In hindsight she should have told Sebastian what had happened before allowing him to take her into his bed. Candra knew him enough to fall in love. She should have known he would be angry at her admission rather than relieved by her honestly.

“I did,” Candra said just as casually, trying desperately to drag her eyes from his tanned washboard stomach, the dents over his hips and the vein that treaded over the bone there and rose slightly from his skin. She reflexively licked her lips and curled her fingers into the covers on the bed. Suddenly everything felt so much more intense, maybe because time was short. She couldn’t help thinking back to the lazy nights spent listening to the sound of his voice under the stars and very small details they’d revealed to each other through totally non-consequential actions and conversations. Now every detail felt momentous. “I came back. I have to tell you something.”

“Great, I can’t wait to hear it. I suppose that means you’re ready to fight again?” he muttered sarcastically, flinging his T-shirt onto the chair and turning to sit on the arm of the seat, still holding the towel in his hand.

“Why do you want to make it so hard for me to like you? I feel like every time we move forward, you back away again,” she said, lifting her hand and slapping it down on the bed, frustrated with these games he played. They had no time for games anymore.

Sebastian’s guarded eyes fixed on her, as if he was waiting for her to say something else.

“Are you trying to get out of coming tonight? Is that what this is about? You promised you would be there for me.” Her heart was pounding viciously, and she could feel her pulse everywhere in her body.

“I will be there,” Sebastian said, looking down to the towel he was turning in his hand. The muscles in his shoulders and arms tensed and flexed repeatedly like tiny tremors under his skin. “I said I would be there, and I will.” Sebastian’s voice was smooth and cold as a sheet of ice.

Candra imagined she could have been speaking to a robot and she wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. There was silence inside the room apart from a single heartbeat—hers. The warm fragrance that reminded her so much of home permeated the air around her and extended the moment into awkwardness when she realized it was Sebastian’s scent she associated with home now. He had become a vital part of her life.

His sucked in a deep breath and blew it out loudly. She could hardly see his face, just the mop of blond hair still damp from his shower and his hands wringing the towel as if he was mad at it. He was mad at her and he probably had a right to be. She didn’t have the decency to refrain from being physical with Draven until after tonight.

It was then Candra noticed she was unconsciously leaning toward him. There was a weird static energy in the room, making the air thick and heated. It was drawing her to him as if she’d been magnetized. It was so ridiculous. She felt as if she was drowning, sinking further and further into murky waters she could never escape from. Sebastian was right to believe she was torturing him and torturing herself. She couldn’t seem to help it because she was desperate to force some kind of reaction from him. She needed to hear him say this was real just once before it was over.

Candra stood up with the intention of going toward him. She didn’t know what he thought; maybe he assumed she was leaving, because his head shot up.

Sebastian looked angry. In fact, he looked borderline livid. His eyebrows were pulled down in a scowl, the warm air made his cheeks flush a pinkish color, and he didn’t appear to be blinking at all. Candra’s legs didn’t want to cooperate in moving. The most she could manage with the extreme effort she applied was to stagger backward until she felt the smooth wood paneling of the wall against the skin between her shoulder blades.

Sebastian stood fluidly, and golden flecks caught the light in his eyes that otherwise seemed almost black.

His shoulders were tensed and straight. His index finger repeatedly tapped the seam on the outside of his thigh as he stalked toward Candra, stopping a short distance away. “What do you want from me? You want me to help you, and then you want me to give up. You say we are friends, next thing you turn cold on me and treat me like I don’t exist. You kiss me, and less than a day later you’re kissing someone else,” he shouted bleakly. “I know I brought this pile of shit down on your head and I should have walked away, but I didn’t expect to feel this.” He slapped his chest with his fist, hard enough to leave a blooming red mark where his heart was. “I can’t win, no matter what I do.”

Candra pressed her hands behind her, feeling the cool wood against her palms in sharp contrast to the rest of her overheated body. Her skin practically sizzled with the electricity between them, and her entire being ached with a deep yearning to be near to him.

“What I feel for you isn’t hearts and roses. It is gritty and painful, full of torment and frustration and darkness,” Candra argued defiantly as she pushed forward from the wall and reached her arm straight out to brush his cheek with her fingertips, before retreating to the wall again. “But it is also beautiful in the few brief moments where we open up to each other, and it is real, isn’t it? That’s what I want you to tell me. Tell me what I’m feeling is real and that you feel it too.”

The temptation to take the next step hung in the air around them. They could both feel it, thick like molasses. It was the apple: take one bite, and there was no going back. It seemed like forever they had been hovering on the edge of this emotional precipice, neither of them wanting to be the first one to jump.

Sebastian lifted his hand to his face, his fingers lingering over where Candra had touched him. As if he could wipe away the temptation. Instead of lowering, his hand went straight to his hair, betraying his anxiety at the situation. He ducked his head again, turning sideway away from her. His stomach sucked in when he took a shaky breath.

“How do you feel, Candra? Do you think it’s real?”

“Yes. I’m in love with you,” she said in a hushed voice.

Sebastian winced and shook his head sadly—not exactly the reaction she wanted. Well, she didn’t know what reaction she wanted because she wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Everything was happening so fast. It was like there was all this time and then it simply evaporated into thin air and was gone.

“Then it is real because…” He stopped and winced again.

Candra held her breath, watching him fight against whatever internal struggle was perpetually going on inside him and wrangling with his instincts to lie and protect himself. In their time together he never seemed to accept that her feelings for him were genuine. Sebastian was always second guessing himself and her. He held fast to the idea she should hate him and had spent his entire existence warring with those whose only desire was to have what she was offering—human love. Candra waited and was about to give up on the hope of ever hearing Sebastian say the words when he finally spoke.

“Because I’m in love with you.”

Finally he looked up and met Candra’s eyes. She flinched, and if she wasn’t already holding her breath, Sebastian would have completely taken her breath away. The passion and love practically radiated from him, and it was threatening to knock her off her feet. She battled with every cell of her body against the intense desire to run from him and keep from hurting either one of them further, rooting herself to the spot and consciously willing it away. It was a struggle Candra almost lost. She wanted this, and she didn’t. She was afraid of the feeling inside her being so strong and overwhelming that she would risk a war for Sebastian. He didn’t move. He didn’t budge an inch and when she balked; he remained waiting. After a few moments, Candra began to feel braver than she knew she had a right to, and gingerly took one small step, bringing her closer to him.

Sebastian’s fierce eyes focused on her. She was hypnotized by him and couldn’t look away. He lifted his hand and, never taking his eyes from hers, brushed her hair over her shoulder. His hand skimmed over Candra’s bare skin and languidly traced the curve of her neck. The heat and the charges were bombarding her, crackling from where his hot fingers passed over the artery pumping blood through her body, and the pull between them, making it feel as if her skin was on fire. Sebastian’s fingers ghosted over her breast, settling in the valley where her heart was thundering. Without thinking about it, her own hand smoothed over his waist and slipped around to his back.

His free hand lifted until it slid gently around the back of her neck, cupping it under her hair. Where Sebastian’s skin met Candra’s, heat sank through her flesh, spreading through her body, making her limp.

His eyes were tightened, as if concentrating, and his chest rose and fell heavily with each strained breath he released. He took another small step, bringing them closer, and the pad of his thumb touched her lip. It brushed across it and tugged lightly. Candra saw his tongue peek out and run across his own lip, matching the movement of his thumb on her lip. Her lips parted slightly, responding to his touch, and she closed her eyes, absorbed by the sensation.

Sebastian’s other hand moved in one long, sensual movement from the back of Candra’s head and along her spine. His fingers were spread, applying a firm pressure as if he was unzipping her, vertebra by vertebra, opening her up to him. She wanted to crawl out of her skin. Every centimeter was hot, alive, and raw with the energy that zinged over her like heat rising from asphalt, and then his breath crossed her parted lips.

Nothing else existed except his mouth moving over hers and the exquisite pain of the need they had both been fighting and were now giving in to.

“You look lovely,” Brie said, fixing one of the curls hanging loose down Candra’s back.

Candra inhaled deeply, staring at her reflection. It was a girl she didn’t recognize. Not a girl anymore—a woman staring back at her, wearing an elegant black evening dress with gleaming curled hair pinned away from her face and reaching midway to her back. Her make-up was perfectly applied, just the right amount of lip gloss complimented by black mascara that made her glassy eyes huge. She looked sad and distant, as if an impression rather than the reflection of a real person.

“So do you,” she responded automatically to Brie who was also dressed in an evening gown, a dark purple satin halter that looked beautiful against her pale skin and dark hair.

Brie smiled sadly. Candra felt like one of those virgin sacrifices in old movies who were always dressed in finery before being thrown into a pit and devoured by wild animals, burned on a pyre, or stabbed on a stone altar while a cloaked, chanting audience looked on. Except her “technical virgin” status wasn’t even that anymore.

Brie walked over to the desk and picked up the delicate shell bracelet she had given Candra as a gift earlier—something to remember her by, as if Candra could forget her. Candra still didn’t know how this was going to work. Just because she had agreed to be with Draven didn’t mean she would never bump into Brie, especially since they were going to be staying in the same city while she finished out school. This wasn’t goodbye, not yet. Their relationship was changing, but this couldn’t be goodbye.

“Anything at all?” Candra asked again. It must have been the fifth time in an hour.

Brie shook her head, concentrating on the clasp she was closing around Candra’s wrist.

Candra sighed heavily. She hadn’t heard from Sebastian since she left him earlier. He hadn’t asked her to reconsider, and she hadn’t offered. But she was nervous about seeing Draven. Since he was able to tell she had never had sex, she wondered if he would now be able to tell she had. She thought Sebastian would show up before they had to leave, but he never appeared. Candra didn’t know exactly what happened at a ball besides dancing or if she would have time to speak to Sebastian there, and she really wanted to speak to him. The car was arriving in less than five minutes to take her and Brie, and there was no sign of him.

Brie and Candra both heard the car pull up outside the house at the same time and exchanged a nervous glance.

“This is it, I suppose.” Candra smiled with a forced brightness.

Brie grabbed hold of her hands and looked into her eyes seriously. “It’s not too late, Candra. You can still back out. You have a soul. You have such a pure and beautiful soul, and maybe others will too. We could take the chance; it’s not bad odds. And what about Sebastian?”

Candra shook her head and looked down to their tightened hands, swallowing thickly when she felt a lump building in her throat. “I can’t gamble with people’s lives, not even for Sebastian. Believe me, I’ve considered it. Maybe it would be okay, Maybe everyone would just continue on as they are now, but what if it wasn’t? Who would be the one to kill them if more Nephilim were born and they were bad? What about the human cost? How would I live with myself if one life was lost that I could have saved? No, this is the only way to convince the Watchers that the covenant was never broken.”

Brie pulled Candra to her and hugged her tightly. “I love you, Candra. As long are we keep each other in our hearts we will always be together.”

Even though it would, more than likely, turn out to be a lost cause, Sebastian knew it was his last chance. He wasn’t above begging at this point, or at least that’s what he tried to convince himself as he checked out the two guys flanking him and leading him to Draven’s library. Of all the wrong decisions he had made up to now, he knew this wasn’t one of them. He considered this his first rational action throughout the entire mess. Sebastian’s intention was to try talking Draven round, man to man, so to speak.

From the very beginning they had been at odds, how could they not have been? Draven had been the one who led them all here, chasing a dream of humanity. Strangely, it was only Sebastian’s feelings for Candra and the desperate, sick, gut-wrenching feeling inside him at the idea of losing her that gave him his first genuine insight to how it must have felt for the others to want to truly live and for that desire to push them to do unspeakable things, to make them choose hell over heaven.

The taller of his escorts tapped firmly on the door and waited for Draven to call them in. Upon hearing Draven’s voice, the guard opened the door and held it, gesturing for Sebastian to enter. As he passed the guard, he bowed his head, barely tilting it. If nothing else, just to impart that he wasn’t here as their enemy.

The room was dim, only lit by a few scattered lamps and the streetlight coming though the colored glass where Draven stood with his back to the door and his head lowered. “Sebastian, I would say this is an unexpected surprise, but both of us would know I’m lying.”

Sebastian walked further into the room. “That should make this easier. You know why I’m here.”

Draven chuckled darkly and turned with a smug grin pulling his lips up further in one side than the other. His hair had been combed into submission. Like Sebastian he was dressed in black tie for the evening’s entertainment, except that he wasn’t wearing a jacket. Draven walked over to the liquor cabinet, poured two crystal tumblers of brandy, and turned, offering one to Sebastian.

He approached Draven cautiously, the muscles of his arms and legs twitched, ready to react to any move he made, but Draven seemed perfectly relaxed. Sebastian took the glass from him, and Draven nodded once, lifting his in the air before downing it in one and turning to pour another.

“This is about more than you and me, Sebastian. I’m not in a position to release Candra from the agreement we made. I need her to stand up there with me tonight.”

“She doesn’t want to be with you,” Sebastian argued coldly and swigged from the glass, feeling the warmth of the liquor spread through him.

Draven turned and looked at him with a circumspect expression, inclining his head to the side. “Even if this were about what any of us wants, I would still give you the same answer.”

“What does that even mean?” Sebastian asked. His fingers trembled by his side, wanting to lash out. He clenched his hand into a fist, digging his nails into his palms.

Draven drained his glass, slammed it upside down onto the cabinet and picked up his jacket from a nearby chair. “This is about protecting all of us, Sebastian. Since when is that not an issue for you anymore? Now is not the time for us to be bickering among ourselves over history that none of us can change.”

“History?”

“Yes, history, Sebastian, history!” Draven exclaimed in obvious frustration and scrubbed at his face with the palm of his hand. “Look around you. The city is falling apart. Violence, drugs, robberies, murder. Something is coming. Can’t you feel it? Payne did. Candra feels it, or haven’t you been listening to her?” He huffed out an impassioned breath and pulled his jacket on, shrugging his shoulder and reaching into the sleeves to adjust his shirt.

Sebastian glared at Draven, waiting for him to come out and tell him whatever it was he had been hiding from all of them, something that clearly had him on edge tonight, but Draven said nothing. Sebastian reasoned he must be referring to Candra’s dreams, the ones she told him were strange and frightening. It suddenly dawned on Sebastian that maybe they were more than dreams. Draven was still looking down, pulling at his cuffs, and Sebastian stepped forward, grabbing him roughly by his arm.

“What do you know?” Sebastian demanded. The artery in his neck pumped blood so viciously through his neck that he thought it might burst. Draven jerked his arm, but Sebastian held him steady, glowering at him. He would take Draven on again, here and now if needs be. He would tear him apart to get the answers if he had to.

“Sebastian, think very carefully before you make your next move,” Draven warned blackly with a cold light glinting in his eyes.

“Tell me, Draven.” Sebastian’s voice lowered menacingly. “Or I swear in the Arch’s name I will destroy you where you stand.”

Draven’s arm suddenly twisted out of his grasp, and in a blinding flash and crash of shattering glass from one of the nearby lamps, Draven spun behind Sebastian, still holding his arm, and forced it upward against his back. Sebastian retaliated without thinking and slammed his head back, hitting Draven in the face. As soon as his grip slackened, Sebastian doubled over, his chest to his knees, and launched Draven over his back, sending him smashing into one of the desks. The antique split and crumbled under the stressful force. Sebastian was on him in a split second, ready for his next move.

Instead of fighting back, Draven laughed in his face with a huge open-mouthed smile, mocking him. Rage stabbed at Sebastian’s brain like a million tiny daggers. His fingers tightened and moved to Draven’s throat, and he glared into his rival’s eyes which burned with a fiery gold inside blue. He knew they were both on the verge of losing control completely, but it didn’t matter. He needed to know the truth.

Sebastian grabbed Draven’s arm again roughly, this time dragging him to his feet. Draven wiped the small drip of blood sliding from his nostril with the back of his hand.

“There is no Arch anymore, Sebastian.”

Sebastian’s fingers clenched again, and he jerked Draven’s arm, sneering at him. “You’re insane.”

The muscles in his arm tightened under Sebastian’s grip. “If I’m insane, then so was Payne. It was him who came to me. It was him who begged me to protect Candra from you.”

Sebastian’s fingers released of their own accord, and Draven backed up a step, bending his head toward one shoulder and then the other, stretching his neck.

“You’re lying,” Sebastian challenged him indignantly. Why would Payne turn to Draven before his own kind? The answer was staring him in the face: the awful truth that Payne knew he couldn’t trust Sebastian to protect Candra, and so he fell and kept her hidden from him. All the time when Sebastian was trying his damnedest to keep her away from the Tenebras, it was really him that was the greatest danger to her. He had already admitted to himself he would have killed her without remorse if he had known she was born, but it was different now. He was different—he was better because of Candra.

“I wish I were lying, Sebastian, but it’s the truth. If it is any consolation, I didn’t really believe she was Payne’s daughter until I returned to Acheron after you did. I thought maybe Payne was delusional. I thought maybe she was a human child he had taken as his own. I admit the idea of getting one over on you was enough incentive to help him, but then I noticed things. There is a darkness spreading across this world like a sickness, infecting humans and making them act on their darkest thoughts. It was just as Payne told me would happen. When I met Candra for the first time, I knew he was telling the truth.”

Sebastian turned away, clawing his fingers through his hair. This wasn’t why he came here. He hadn’t expected Draven to give Candra up, but he also hadn’t expected Draven to tell him anything like this. It reminded him of Candra’s words, that maybe she was meant for Draven, that she was his before she was born, but Sebastian refused to believe it.

“What truth, Draven? What did Payne tell you?” he pushed through gritted teeth.

“Payne came to me and said he had dreams, messages…he said after we left, a power struggle had broken out in heaven, and the Arch had been overthrown. He said the Arch was sending a gift to us…a weapon. I thought he was mad at first, naturally. Ananchel stayed close by for a time, just in case he wasn’t. I knew when Candra was born, but that was it. She disappeared, and then he came to me again and said he had a daughter and she wasn’t like any other Nephilim and that she would remain hidden until she was an adult. He said we must all prepare ourselves to fight for humanity, and we would be rewarded. I’m talking about us going home, Sebastian. All of us.”

“That is insane. If any of it were true, why would you only be telling us now?”

“Would you have listened to me?” he asked frankly. “If it wasn’t because of your feelings for Candra, would you listen now?”

Sebastian walked toward one of the couches and sank heavily onto the creaking leather with his head in his hands, because as much as he wanted to simply write off what Draven was saying, he couldn’t. He had seen it too, since his return to Acheron. The city was falling apart, and its residents were losing their way and turning on each other. Whatever was going on in the wider world was centered here. Then there was Candra and her existence becoming known to all of them. The interest in her had drawn so many of them to Acheron, back to where it had all begun. He wondered if Draven was right and there was more to it. Were they being gathered for another reason?

“So what are you saying, Draven? Candra is some sort of a weapon?”

“That’s precisely what I’m saying. Before you ask, I don’t know what kind. I just know that something worse than anything we’ve been through is coming, and we will have to stand together, or everything will be lost. I need Candra with me because, right now, none of us can afford to be distracted. I have to keep the covenant intact,” Draven stated unapologetically from behind him.

Sebastian chuckled drably. “Please, Draven, if you are going to be honest, be honest. You and I both know there are other ways. You want Candra with you because you want her. You’ve always been the same: you want, and you take.”

Draven didn’t reply, but his silence was enough to tell Sebastian he was right. He knew in that instant that there was no compromise they could reach here. No amount of pleading would release Candra while Draven was intent on having her, and Candra wouldn’t back away. Sebastian guessed his nemesis was under no illusion he would keep this new information to himself for long, he but knew Draven was working on the certainty that it would change nothing. Candra would still agree to pledge herself to him and do exactly what he wanted, to keep everyone from fighting among themselves until they could figure out what was coming after all of them.

“What do you want me to do, Draven? You know I can’t just walk away, but how do you expect me to stand by and watch her with you?”

“I don’t expect you to do anything other than what you’ve done all along—protect our kind. This world belongs to all of us now as much as it does to the humans. You will have to trust me.”

“Trust you!” Sebastian looked up in astonishment and twisted in his seat to see Draven standing calmly in the muted jewel light from the stained glass behind him. “How can I ever trust you?”

Draven’s head lowered, and Sebastian heard his long drawn out sigh. “That’s just what I thought you would say, unfortunately. It has taken this for us even to be in the same room. I know you better than you think. I believe one day you will appreciate my candor when I say that everything I have done was for all of us first and myself second.”

“I doubt that,” Sebastian spat, standing up to face him.

Draven approached slowly with long strides, stopping at the couch where he stood. “We have all lost, Sebastian. Every one of us has lost a child, brother, sister, or loved one. I want to keep us from losing more. You and me, they all look up to us and follow our lead. Still after all this time, they rely on us for guidance. We are the same, though you wish to deny it. If what Payne warned of is true—and I believe it is—a new battle is coming, and either we stand together, or we will all be lost. The price of success will be a high one. Maybe higher than you are willing to pay…”

Sebastian stood silently, clenching his jaw.

Draven paused for a brief moment, as if measuring if his last comment was enough to break Sebastian’s control.

“Forgiveness, Sebastian. With time, anything can be forgiven, if you will allow it.”

Sebastian couldn’t believe Draven was actually trying to convince him he had forced Candra into this deal for anything other than his own benefit. He didn’t want to believe everything else Draven said, but he did believe him. Something deep inside Sebastian knew he was telling the truth.

“Now, if you will excuse me. I have a celebration to attend.” Draven nodded curtly and left, closing the door after him.

Sebastian dropped back into the seat, feeling drained and confused. Draven knew about her all along. Candra was a gift, sent to do what? Protect them? From what? Sebastian had told Gabe he was leaving the city tonight, right after the party, but with this new information, he wasn’t sure he could. It felt as if his heart was being ripped into pieces. There was no way to know what the future held for any of them.

Chapter Nineteen

Draven walked toward Candra as she exited the elevator, looking extremely handsome in his tuxedo and smiling brightly. After she’d arrived, she had been taken briefly to his apartment to wait for him; apparently he had business. As if she wasn’t nervous enough, she’d had to wait for him.

“You look stunning,” he told her, brushing the back of his fingers over her cheek. “Truly, you are a vision.”

“Thank you,” Candra replied graciously, pulling back just a little. Her initial thought was relief. She’d half-expected to get the third degree, but her innocence—or lack thereof—seemed to go unnoticed. “I wanted to talk to you about something before we go in.”

“Of course.” His eyebrows pulled down, and his expression became curious. Taking her hand, Draven led her to an intricately carved bench against one of the walls, where they sat on the aged wood. He held onto her hand, absentmindedly running his thumb in a circle over the back of it and angled his body toward her.

“Tell me,” he prompted.

“It’s about the services for my friend, Ivy. I wanted to make sure you know that I will be attending,” Candra told him outright, holding her head up and waiting for him to argue. But, as always, Draven surprised her.

“Of course, Candra. It goes without saying you need to be there.” His expression softened, and a reassuring smile made crescent lines form at the corner of his lips.

“Brie will be there, I’m sure. I don’t know about the others,” Candra added, narrowing her eyes and waiting for him to stomp his foot down, but his expression was unwavering.

“You need to be there. I won’t try to keep you away. You have my word. I’ve told you, Candra: I want us to be friends. What kind of a friend would I be if I kept you away from saying a last goodbye?”

At least it was something, a small victory, but a victory all the same. Candra sighed sadly and looked away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears stinging her eyes. When she had left Sebastian, she hadn’t said goodbye. No words came to mind that clearly expressed how she felt leaving him, and she wondered if she would get the chance to.

“I’m sorry. I hope you will one day understand why this is the only way, but I’m not sorry I met you, Candra.”

“I know.” Candra blinked a few times to clear her eyes. She understood that to Draven this was a way of keeping the covenant intact and knew too that he genuinely cared for her. She didn’t believe he was doing any of this out of maliciousness.

He stood gracefully, leaving Candra staring down at his shoes, and then held his hand out to her with his fingers curved slightly, waiting. Candra lifted her chin, feeling butterflies building in her stomach. This is real, she told herself as she met his eyes.

Draven looked down on her kindly, his gaze burning with admiration and triumph.

“Ready?” he asked.

Candra raised her hand slowly, never taking her eyes from him, noticing how he held his breath. Her stomach knotted as her hand slipped into his.

“Ready,” Candra replied.

His chest deflated with the breath he released, and the warm smile returned to his lips. “Thank you,” Draven murmured, barely above a whisper, before he turned to guide them to the ballroom door.

After a moment, Candra became aware of a hush growing over the voices on the other side of the door. The constant murmur was quieting, and she realized the music that was coming from the ballroom was familiar. She found herself moving toward the door as if the music was a living being, curling under the door and floating toward her even as it drew her forward to it.

The door opened inward, held by two Watchers Candra recognized as working with Draven. The gathered crowd in their finery turned to them with rapt attention. The music was playing low in the background, but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. The room was lit to a low ambient light, accentuated by the twinkling chandeliers overhead.

The crowd began to part, shuffling silently toward the sidewalls as they walked forward with Draven’s hand resting softly against Candra’s lower back. There had to have been at least three hundred or more Watchers present in the large room, all with their attention on Candra. They lowered their heads gracefully in acknowledgement as she passed. She couldn’t see Brie, Lofi, or Gabe. Sebastian was nowhere in sight either. But she could see a few familiar faces: the doctor from the hospital, Ananchel, and a girl who had recently worked at the gallery with Brie. Candra realized both light and dark were represented at the gathering, and each step she took was a choice she was making, a choice to keep them all safe. The beautiful piano music seemed to waft through the air and wrap around her as if it was made to do just that. It was the same music she had danced to with Draven. She guessed he chose the familiar tune to help her relax. She felt a tremble in her stomach that was somehow almost natural and a heat that rippled over her body, flowing like liquid silk across her skin.

Quiet mutterings erupted again, and Candra heard muffled intakes of breath but continued on toward the top of the room. She spotted Brie there, right at the top, standing by Gabe’s side. His arm was wrapped around her tightly, and her small hands were pressed to her mouth that was opened in a small “o.”

Draven stopped when they reached a small platform at the top of the room and turned toward her with bright glinting eyes. He leaned forward, and his warm breath grazed Candra’s ear.

“Your light shines for all to see now.” He pulled back smiling, his hand still on her back.

Candra looked at him in confusion and darted her eyes back to the crowd. Her stomach did a flip-flop when she spotted Sebastian and Lofi at the very back of the crowd, in the corner near where they had come in. Lofi’s head was tilted to the side, observing the scene before her with interest. Her hand was moving over Sebastian’s upper arm, rubbing up and down in a comforting motion. His head was bowed and shaking side to side as if in disbelief.

“Look, Candra,” Draven told her, lifting her hand up in front of her.

She gasped in wonder and turned her hand over in front of her face, allowing her gaze to travel up her arm, where her skin gleamed under the twinkling lights with a sort of dim pearlescent glow.

“What’s going on?” Candra gulped, shocked and breathless as the shimmer faded and disappeared before her eyes. “I don’t understand.”

Draven’s solid arm moved to wrap around her back, pulling her to him as if they were embracing, but really he was holding her steady. “It’s okay; it’s the angel blood inside you. It’s okay, I swear,” he whispered and held her for several long moments until she recovered from the shock.

Candra realized she should have suspected something like this would happen, that she would have idiosyncrasies that would show themselves over time, or physical attributes that would set her apart from humans. She just didn’t expect it to be that she could be her own light source.

“I’m okay now,” Candra said in a muted voice.

“Are you sure?”

She took another calming breath that was filled with his spicy fragrance. “I’m sure.”

Draven pulled back, scrutinizing her expression closely, clearly watching for signs she was about to freak out. He needn’t have worried. If she hadn’t freaked out by now with everything that had happened, a little shimmer was not going to be the piece of straw that broke the camel’s back. Candra could handle it, or at least she could keep her freaking out for later when she was alone. Even then, she wasn’t sure she would; it just didn’t seem unnatural to her. It felt like something unexpected but still something she was made to do, like being thrown into the water and realizing floating comes naturally.

Draven nodded once and turned to face the crowd. Silence engulfed the room.

“If you are here tonight,” he began loudly and with a determined air of authority, “it is because you’ve heard the stories of the Nephil born to the Nuhra”

The murmurs began again, some angry and raised. Candra took a small step closer to Draven, noting that Sebastian still refused to look up. He was here, as he said he would be, but also just as he said, he wouldn’t watch.

“It’s time for the truth,” Draven went on, raising his arms to hush the crowd. “As you can see, Candra is no ordinary Nephil; Candra was born with a soul. She is good and kind and loving. You have seen with your own eyes the light that shines within her. While it is true that she carries the blood of Payne and that she was raised by Ambriel, Payne came to me personally before her birth and asked for my help…”

Again the mutterings erupted, but this time Candra didn’t look. She kept her eyes firmly on Draven’s profile as he spoke. His body was relaxed and held straight with his shoulders rolled back. He lied convincingly. She watched his jaw tighten and flex and his throat work with each swallow. Candra then turned her attention to her toes peeking out from under her dress while he gave the crowd a chance to absorb the information before he spoke again.

“After she was born, Payne came to me again, telling me her mother had died in childbirth and asking for protection for his child—protection which I freely offered. Payne fell while under my asylum as such, and Candra has also been offered sanctuary with me.” He paused and sucked in a breath. “But she is not one of us. The covenant has been broken.”

Shocked voices echoed through the room, and Candra’s eyes flashed first to Draven whose expression was calm and unreadable, then to Brie who looked horrified and was speaking to Gabe, but Candra couldn’t hear what she was saying. Sebastian and Lofi were still in the same spot. Lofi’s expression hadn’t faltered, and her hand was still touching Sebastian’s arm. Ananchel was at the door where they came in. She looked to be guarding it to prevent people from leaving. Candra made to step away from Draven, but his strong arm locked around her waist preventing it, and she saw all the doors were blocked by Watchers she had seen around this very building.

“What are you doing, Draven? We had an agreement,” she demanded in a low voice, fighting the building fear inside her that this was all an elaborate trick to get all the Nuhra here for some kind of end-of-movie final bloodbath scene.

“Trust me,” he pressed.

That was going to be difficult, since he seemed to be about to feed her to the baying crowd. The din was rising, and Candra suspected any moment the sound of whooshing wings would erupt. After that, there would be no stopping it.

“Wait!” Draven commanded. “I said wait.”

Just as Candra expected, she heard the sound of ripping fabric, but it was Draven that was the first to show his true self. His wings extended, black as midnight and twice as frightening. There was immediate silence, and she very quickly realized something she had missed from the very beginning: no one was prepared to challenge Draven except for Sebastian, and he was hanging his head in the back of the room as if all the fight had seeped out of him.

“It is time to put the past behind us. Payne understood this. I understand it, and so does Candra. She is willing to give up her entire life; she’s willing to sacrifice her future and her family to keep the covenant in place.” His words were impassioned and charismatic.

They faded into the background as Candra watched the back of the room where Sebastian was making his way to the door. She saw him exchange words with Ananchel, Lofi by his side. Lofi appeared to be pleading with him, her hand cupped Sebastian’s face forcing him to look at her. Some of the crowd near the back were beginning to look.

“But I don’t want her to,” Draven finished.

Candra jerked her entire body in an attempt to get away from him. He had betrayed her; he was selling her out. At the very same time, Sebastian froze. A second later his head snapped up to face them. He was too far away, and Candra was too confused to read his expression with any accuracy.

“Please don’t do this,” Candra pleaded to Draven in a strained whisper. She could feel the hairs rising on the back of her neck, and her heart drummed loudly, hard and fast in her ribcage. She pressed her hand to it out of instinct, trying in vain to reduce the pressure in her chest.

Draven completely ignored her, holding her still with little effort. “I have a proposal to make…”

A proposal? Candra thought. Could he possibly be serious? Had he decided to up the ante here and now? It would have been laughable if she hadn’t already promised him everything. What more could she possibly give?

“We were once one, and my proposal to all of you is that we be that again.”

Candra stopped struggling and looked up to him. “What are you saying, Draven?”

He turned his head to look as her and released his arm from around her waist. The small vein on his temple stood out, giving away that he wasn’t as calm and assured as his words and actions would make it seem. The back of his index finger ghosted down the length of her forearm before he turned back to the crowd.

“All of you, in one way or another, look to Sebastian and me for guidance, and it has been no secret over the centuries that we have never seen eye to eye. Earlier today we came to an understanding.”

All eyes in the room were glancing between Draven and Sebastian with trepidation and bewilderment about what was going on. Sebastian was standing with his back to the door, facing them full-on as if he was waiting for Draven to make his next move. Candra was sure he was about to leave, which meant he had no idea what Draven was up to. She wondered if the conversation he was referring to ever happened at all.

“Candra promised herself to me as part of a deal to protect the covenant and prevent war. I propose—” Draven turned to Candra again and took her hand, raising it to his lips and softly pressing his lips to her heated skin keeping his eyes locked on hers. He winked before he let her hand go. “—as a gesture of goodwill between us, to politely back out of the bargain we made, in an effort to move on from the past, to a future where we can once again stand together and call ourselves one family.”

“I don’t understand,” Candra murmured under her breath, looking to see a relieved, hopeful smile on Brie’s face.

There was a stunned silence throughout the room, and many eyes were on Sebastian, trying to gauge his reaction to Draven’s declaration. She held her breath, waiting for what felt like an eternity. The room seemed to slow, and the crowd disappeared into a hazy mist. The only thing she could focus on was the hesitation Sebastian displayed when his head lowered and his fists curled in by his side. The loud metronome thrumming in Candra’s ears measured time that continued to stretch out before her. Draven’s wing brushed against her bare back, sending shivers down her spine. Without looking, she knew he was pulling them in flush to his body before they would disappear to nothing.

Candra had no idea what would happen next if whatever plan Draven was acting out went wrong. She swallowed thickly against the escalating ache in her lungs begging for air, and her hand bunched the fabric of her dress by her side.

Suddenly Sebastian’s head shot up. Simultaneously his eyes locked on Candra’s, and he took the first of his indomitable strides through the crowd toward them. She released the breath she was holding in a long slow exhale, not wanting to alert anyone to the fact she really had no idea what was going on between these two. She had no idea what had happened to change things so drastically from the time she left Sebastian until the ball. Sebastian’s fierce gaze didn’t waver as he approached and stopped beside her so that she found herself once again wedged between them.

“Draven is right,” Sebastian said resolutely, shocking Candra.

The world appeared to have shifted on its axis—or she had slipped into an alternate universe of opposites where these two could actually agree on anything other than hating each other. A tremor shot up her arm when the back of Sebastian’s hand grazed hers in what would look completely accidently to the observing eye, but Candra knew better.

“It is time to let history rest. We’ve all lost, and if we refuse to learn from our mistakes, we will continue to lose. I, for one, have lost enough.” With that Sebastian turned his body toward Draven and reached his outstretched hand in front of Candra.

There was a long moment’s pause, in which she felt like her stomach might turn itself inside out with nerves. She watched Sebastian’s hand hold steady and sure until Draven also reached in front of her, taking it firmly in his, and an immediate chatter broke out in front of them.

“Thank you, brother, for trusting me,” Draven said earnestly.

“Thank you, brother, for still having faith in me to do the right thing,” Sebastian responded.

Candra left them there, holding hands in their little mutual admiration society. Her relief was palpable. She hadn’t realized until that moment what an incredible weight had been on her shoulders, and tears began to blur her vision. She was practically giddy as she charged toward Brie and was engulfed in her arms.

“What happened?” Brie asked in a tear-choked voice against Candra’s hair.

“I have no idea, but if you haven’t already decided to redesign my room as an art studio or gym, I think I’d like to come home tonight.”

Brie’s light laughter was muffled by a quiet sob. Over her shoulder, Candra could see blurred images of Gabe and Lofi speaking to Ananchel, of all people, and for once Ananchel and Lofi didn’t look like they were about to kill each other. They didn’t look like they were suddenly best buddies and still stood with their bodies angled awkwardly away from each other, but it was a beginning. All around them Watchers from both sides mingled, some observing with a guarded hesitance and other reaching out to each other, perhaps speaking for the first time since the Watchers had come here to earth. It seemed, after all this time, all it took was for someone to make the first move.

Candra saw Ananchel approach wearing the same non-threatening expression she wore at the Philip’s party, and she pulled away from Brie, letting her go to Gabe. Candra finally realized one of the things that made her uneasy about Ananchel was spot on: she did know things Candra didn’t all along.

“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said your father and I were once friends,” Ananchel said with a grin. “I knew him during the time before your birth until Brie came into your life. He was a good man.”

Candra tilted her head, waiting for Ananchel to finish. She still couldn’t see a time when Ananchel and she would be friends. Ananchel’s particular gift didn’t sit well with her.

“Perhaps one day I will tell you about Payne as I knew him.” Ananchel shrugged noncommittally, and with a last smile turned and walked away.

Candra felt a hand on the base of her back and twisted around to meet Draven’s sheepish half-smile. “I understand if you would prefer not to, but I think it would be a good idea to get this evening underway to its intended purpose. I would be greatly honored if you would consent to the first dance with me.”

Candra looked around to find Sebastian. He was in the middle of being ambushed by Lofi and Brie while Gabe looked on with amused concern. She felt butterflies of excitement break out as it dawned on her that their situation had suddenly, drastically changed, and a fraction of a second later hot blood began to flood her cheeks and mild panic gripped her for the same reason. What if Sebastian didn’t want her now that he could actually have her? He didn’t come to say goodbye despite promising he would. He was planning to leave, to give up on her.

“Candra?” Draven called, bringing her attention back to him.

Candra smiled and took his offered hand, allowing him to lead her to the center of the floor just in time for the piano music to begin again. It was beautiful and mellow, with almost a dreamlike quality to it. Very soon several other couples joined them in dancing, and soon after, several more. Candra moved easily with Draven, perhaps because she didn’t have to think, just allow him to lead. Of course that had its drawbacks too, because she wasn’t paying complete attention to him, and every time he twirled her round, she searched for Sebastian in the crowd. He was still taking animatedly to Lofi.

“I owe you an apology again,” Draven admitted, shifting his hand at her back. Strangely, although she was still attracted to him, she didn’t feel any of the need to be closer to him or the raw sexual energy that had once existed between them.

“You never stopped, did you? Your parlor tricks and messing with my head?” Candra said reproachfully.

He grimaced and ducked his head, looking at her through his thick black eyelashes. “A gentle push, nothing more. The attraction was there. Forgive me?”

Candra’s stomach curled in a little from the whirlwind of emotions spinning through her. “I honestly don’t know if I can. How can I trust you after all of this? You tricked me, and you made me choose between Sebastian and the many Watchers in this room.”

“That may be my biggest regret in all of this,” he lamented, bringing his hand from her back up to tenderly brush a strand of hair from her face. “There is a bigger picture here, Candra. I saw an opportunity to bring everyone together again, finally, and I took it. I knew Sebastian was following you from the time he first saw you, and I knew I could use that as leverage, but Sebastian is stubborn.” He raised his eyebrow and grinned. “He had to be pushed to his limits.”

“You mean you used me. You pushed us together by placing yourself as a challenge to him, and both of you danced around each other like peacocks shaking your tail feathers and puffing out your chests.” Candra pouted, looking down.

She felt his finger under her chin lifting her face to look at him again. Draven was smiling, but he was sad too. His jaw clenched when he frowned. “I admit that was my initial plan as soon as I confirmed for myself you carried Payne’s blood, but it quickly changed. I developed feelings I didn’t expect, and tonight I found myself in the unfamiliar position of being unsure. I didn’t want to let you go.”

He turned her again, and she saw a flash of Sebastian standing with his back to the wall, observing them with interest. His arms were crossed over his chest, his eyebrows pulled down, and his eyes tightened as if he was contemplating something.

“But you did let me go,” Candra corrected him. Part of her still needed confirmation.

“What use is a caged bird?” He smirked. “However, if you were to choose to stay with me of your own free will…?” He cocked an eyebrow in question, and Candra swallowed nervously, reminding herself she was no longer under obligation.

She had grown used to the idea of being with Draven, even resigned to it. He had his good points and his bad ones. He was complex and charming, and if she had met him under any other circumstances, she probably would have considered him. But this wasn’t other circumstances, and the truth of it was her heart wasn’t in her possession anymore. It wasn’t hers to give away. Candra sighed deeply and smiled up at Draven, deciding to leave his question unanswered. She was sure he knew the answer before he asked it.

“I don’t think I can be compared to a bird. I don’t have wings.”

Draven chuckled and shook his head. “No, you don’t. You have something infinitely more impressive and a lot easier on your wardrobe,” he joked.

“What is it, that thing that happened before?” Candra asked curiously.

He pursed his lips for a moment, thinking, and then shrugged. “I have no idea. I wish I did. I know you are special, Candra, but I don’t know why or how yet. I think we shall all simply have to wait and see.”

Wait and see was hardly an explanation, but she didn’t have time to question him further because Sebastian appeared by his side, tapping his shoulder. It was all very refined and dignified, yet she noticed a couple of the people around them waiting with bated breath for Draven’s reaction. Candra was sure it was to their relief, because it was to hers, when Draven released her with a quick nod and a smile, backing away and gesturing with a wave of his hand for Sebastian to take his place. The entire exchanged happened without a single word spoken, and then Sebastian swept Candra into his arms and twirled her across the floor like they were the stars of an old black and white movie, making her giggle.

He slowed them down, beaming a full, toothy white grin. “You have no idea how good it feels to make you laugh again.”

Candra darted her eyes away, feeling the blush rise in her cheeks.

“What is it?” Sebastian asked, pulling her closer to him.

The butterflies in her stomach danced with joy, and her heart picked up pace just being close to him, and the very idea that it would be over soon made her eyes sting. Candra decided to man up and be straight with him.

“I’m still not sure what just happened here, and I’m sort of worried about your intentions toward me. You never came to say goodbye.”

Sebastian forced out a breath through pursed lips, which blew across her face. The warm smell of salt and spices enveloped her—the scent of home. Suddenly she was a little dizzy. It was a good thing Sebastian was holding her so tightly.

“I didn’t know Draven was going to do that, but he was right, as much as I hate to admit it.” His lips turned down into such an adorable little boy frown that Candra couldn’t help smiling. “The reason I didn’t come to say goodbye was because I came here to plead with Draven, beg him if I had to, to let you go. Truthfully, I didn’t think he would.” He stopped for a moment, and gold reflected in his concerned eyes. “There are things we should discuss. The future won’t be easy. We’ve been fighting for so long…” He trailed off sadly.

“I’ll help you,” Candra offered and then added. “That’s what friends do, right?” She was secretly hoping he would tell her they were more than friends, but instead he smirked.

“It hasn’t always been easy being your friend.”

“You’re no picnic yourself,” Candra retorted, disappointed at being placed in the friend box.

Sebastian sighed again, running his hand up her back, under her hair until it met bare skin and then scraped lightly across it with his nails, a very sexy, un-friend-like look in his eyes. He sucked the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth. Electrical charges pulsed over Candra’s flesh, leaving goose bumps where he touched her.

“Really, right now all I want to do is cling onto you like the creepy stalker you know me to be, lie out on the roof of the townhouse, just you and me, and maybe even ask you out on a proper date,” he teased, twirling her again.

Candra hadn’t noticed he had guided them over to a secluded corner of the room. “And as for my intentions, I can assure you they are entirely dishonorable.”

“Really?” Candra grinned like a fool, knotting her fingers up into his shirt under his jacket. How did she not notice before now how good he looked in a suit, despite his hair still being a golden disarrayed mess?

“Yes, really.” He smiled, keeping one hand at her waist and trailing the other over her shoulder and across her collarbone. She closed her eyes as he stepped closer until their bodies were pressed together in a way that was entirely dishonorable in public.

“I love you,” Candra said against his lips, purely because she never wanted to waste another opportunity to let him know.

His lips spread into a smile that she felt against hers. “You know men have died for less.”

“Men have lived for less too,” Candra said back, smiling.

Sebastian’s hand curved around Candra’s neck, under her ear, and his thumb brushed across her cheek before his mouth came down on hers in a soft, passion-filled kiss.

Epilogue

The night sky over the desert was wild and raged like fierce living creatures battling for dominance. Heavy black clouds whirled and crashed against each other viciously with thunderous roars. Forks of lightening hit the arid ground, cracking it apart and sending dust and sand swirling into the air. The ground shook as if terrified, and animals fled, seeking safe haven from the onslaught.

With another mighty lightning strike, the ground exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the landscape. It was followed by another and then another and another…until the holes were scattered across a wide expanse and the first droplet of moisture fell from the sky. Soon it was pouring; icy sheets of rain lashed the desert as if the heavens were calling out in protest, and a dirty hand emerged, gripping onto the edge of the first and largest hole.

About the Author

Carol Oates has never been one to remain still for long. After her parents’ mad dash to the hospital through the empty city streets of Dublin, Ireland, Carol made her debut into the world in the early hours of Christmas morning. Since then her pace has not slowed down in the least.

Carol was introduced to the world of supernatural books when, as a child, her family moved to a coastal suburb on the northern border of Dublin known as Clontarf, famous as the birthplace of Bram Stoker, the prolific author responsible for breathing life into the legendary story Dracula. This stirred in Carol an early passion for reading about all things supernatural. Combine that passion with a deep interest in the history and folklore of Ireland, as well as an active and vivid imagination, and Carol Oates the author was born. She loves to write about anything not entirely “human”— -a love that emerges in her debut novel, Shade of Atlantis, as well as in her second novel, Ember.

Carol still lives in Dublin, but spends a great deal of time traveling though the counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland with her partner and son. When not traveling through the countryside, Carol spends her days at the office and her evenings immersed in the world of Legends and Mythical Creatures.

www.CarolOates.com

Acknowledgments

This is another book that wouldn’t exist without the support of my family and friends.

I owe a debt of gratitude to all my dad, brothers, and sisters who are unwavering in their love regardless of what life throws at us. I would like to thank my mum for giving me the strength to always keep going, even when the going gets tough.

I want to say a special thank you to David for being one of the smartest people I know, to Rodney because he copes with my craziness, and to Eric who is the light of my life.

I also want to thank Elizabeth and Omnific Publishing, Meredith for walking me through the process of editing this book, Emma, Katherine, Micha, and Coreen for their contribution, and the other Omnific authors who are always there for moral support.

Finally, thank you to my readers, the reviewers, and bloggers who have so tirelessly promoted me in past and continue to help me make my dream of being an author a reality.

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Anthologies

A Valentine Anthology including short stories by Alice Clayton, Jennifer DeLucy, Nicki Elson, Jessica McQuinn, Victoria Michaels, and Alison Oburia

Summer Lovin’ Anthology: Summer Breeze including short stories by Hannah Downing, Nicki Elson, Sarah M. Glover, Jennifer Lane, Killian McRae, Carol Oates, and Susan Kaye Quinn

Summer Lovin’ Anthology: Heat Wave including short stories by Kasi Alexander, Debra Anastasia, Robin DeJarnett, Jessica McQuinn, Lisa Sanchez, and BJ Thornton

Coming Soon From Omnific Publishing

Cat O’ Nine Tails by Patricia Leever

Grave Refrain by Sarah M. Glover

The Guardian’s Wildchild by Feather Stone

A Love by Any Measure by Killian McRae

Small Town Girl by Linda Cunningham

Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia

The Crystal Pendulum by Trisha Wolfe

Embrace by Cherie Colyer

...

And more from Sylvain Reynard, Jennifer DeLucy, Alice Clayton, and Hannah Fielding

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Information

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

About the Author

Acknowledgments

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