Gabriel’s POV
I swear to Goddess, if Nick didn’t stop bouncing his leg up and down, I was going to strangle him.
“Stop it,” I growled and placed my hand on his leg, stopping him from moving.
“This place is a dump, man,” he sighed. “I can’t believe you used to come here every night.”
“It wasn’t every night,” I said with a frown.
But he was right. The place looked awful. The whole City looked awful. I had been so wrapped up in everything that was happening with Aria that pushed everything that was happening here to the back of my mind.
The streets were completely empty. Everybody was too afraid to come outside. While we were driving here, we saw only a few people walking down the street. I bet they were hunters. The city was constantly clouded by smoke coming from the main square and there was a constant smell of burning bodies lingering in the air. It was even more potent than it was a few days ago. You could hear screams coming from the main square.
I had a feeling this would be last time we would be coming to the city. It was extremely dangerous. The city was crowded when the inquisition started, and we could easily blend in the crowd. Afterwards there were fewer and fewer people in the city, but you could still blend in if you were careful. Now not so much. There was no more blending in. We were not coming back here anytime soon.
Louis’s bar was empty. Nick and I were sitting at the bar. There was one man sleeping in one of the booths. He was drunk. I could smell the stench of alcohol coming off of him.
The floor was dirty. It looked like Louis didn’t have time to clean in here. The walls were covered in blood. I guess there was a fight here. Or something worse. Most of the lamps on the ceiling were broken. There was only one above the bar and it was weak. There was a faint yellow light coming off of it and it just gave this place an even more sinister look than usual. It was never the nicest bar to visit, but it was never this bad.
I could hear Louis in the back room, but he still didn’t come outside. I guess he didn’t hear us come in.
“Do you think they will be okay?” Nick asked me and started bouncing his leg up and down again.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Yes. They will be fine.”
“If something happens to her…” he said quietly.
Before I could answer, Louis came from the back room.
“Gabe?” he said, his eyes widening.
“Hey, Lou,” I smiled. “It’s been a while.”
“I thought they caught you, man,” he said and walked over to us. “Where have you been?”
“Well, that is a long story,” I said, not wanting to talk about it with him. “A lot has happened, and I really need your wine tonight.”
“You can have as much as you want,” he said. “It’s been sitting in the back room. You are the only one who drinks that shit.”
I laughed and turned to Nick.
“This is Nick,” I said. “My friend.”
They both nodded at each other, and Louis turned to get us two glasses.
“Will you be having the same shit as Gabriel?” Louis asked Nick, placing the glasses down in front of us.
“Sure,” Nick said.
Louis walked to the back room and came with my red mush. He poured it into both of our glasses and placed the bottle on the bar.
Nick took a sip and frowned.
“This sucks, man,” he said, placing the glass back down on the bar.
I laughed and took a big sip. He was right. It was awful. But it helped with anger.
“What happened to the bar, Lou?” I asked Louis.
He sighed and ran his hand through his greasy, gray hair.
“Hunters,” he said. “They came here a couple of times. Took some people away. They beat the crap out of one man. That’s his blood on the wall. People just stopped coming after that. Everybody is too afraid. The city is completely empty.”
“I noticed,” I muttered.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “It’s hard not to.”
“How are you?” I asked him.
“I am fine,” he said quietly. “I am thinking about closing this place down and getting the hell out of here.”
“Do you have anywhere to go?” I asked.
He never talked about friends and family. He mentioned a woman, but they were no longer together.
“I have a cousin in Varenna,” he said. “He could take me in.”
I had heard about that city. It was a few hours away.
“I will miss you and your wine, Lou,” I said and took a sip.
“Oh, I will be coming back,” he winked at me. “I am not giving up on my bar.”
I laughed and looked at Nick. He had drunk the whole glass and was pouring himself another one. So much about not liking it.
He was still bouncing his leg up and down and glancing at his watch constantly. I got that he was worried. I was too. But he would drive himself crazy if he didn’t stop doing that.
“Nick, you need to stop,” I said. “She is fine. She needed time away from us. We are doing this for her.”
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I don’t like being away from her. It drives me crazy just thinking about something happening.”
“Nothing is going to happen,” I said.
“Girl problems?” Louis asked.
He picked up a glass from the bar and started drying it with a dishtowel.
“Kind of,” Nick muttered.
“I get it,” Louis sighed. “Women bring nothing but problems.”
Nick growled silently and I kicked him in his ribs. He looked at me annoyed.
“Don’t,” I said silently.
I was pretty sure Louis knew about supernaturals, but I was not about to test that theory.
I turned to Louis, quickly changing the subject. I asked him about Varrena and his cousin. I didn’t want to anger Nick even more. He was tense as fuck.
The conversation went smoothly after that. We drank a few bottles and we even managed to make Nick smile for a second.
When it was time for us to leave, Nick stormed out barely saying goodbye to Louis.
“I am sorry, man,” I said to Louis, handing him money. “He is just nervous.”
“It’s okay, Gabe,” he said and smiled. “I hope I will see you again.”
“You definitely will,” I said. “Take care man. And come back soon. I will miss your wine.”
I really hoped Louis will be okay. He was there for me when my grandma died. He always listened and never judged. I will miss him.
“Be careful, Gabe,” Louis said seriously. “Don’t get caught.”
I nodded with a serious expression on my face and walked out of the bar. I had a feeling that that was his way of telling me he knew what I was.
Aria’s POV
I was on my fourth glass of gin tonic when we heard the car pulling up the driveway. The car doors slammed, and footsteps came running toward the door.
“Aria?!” Nick shouted as he flung the front door open.
“Living room,” Annie yelled and rolled her eyes.
Nick came running and he let out a breath when he saw me. He ran toward me and placed me on his lap, nuzzling his head into my neck.
Gabriel came behind him, shaking his head.
“Wow, Nick. It has only been two hours,” Annie said.
“Don’t ever ask me to do that again,” Nick said and looked up at Annie. “It was the longest two hours of my life.”
I chuckled and tried to get off his lap.
“No,” he growled. “Don’t move.”
I sighed and stopped wiggling. I knew he wouldn’t let me go until he was ready.
“He was driving me insane the entire time we were there,” Gabriel said and sat down on the sofa.
“I could barely control Nate,” Nick sighed. “He wanted to claw my ass for leaving Aria here.”
“You two shouldn’t worry so much about me,” I said and caressed his cheek. “I am fine.”
“We will always worry,” Nick said and turned his head to kiss my palm. “We will always want to be with you and never leave you.”
I smiled and turned to Gabriel.
“I want to ask you a few questions,” I said.
He nodded and leaned toward me, placing his elbows on his knees.
“Your grandma said we are powerful,” I said. “How come I don’t feel it?”
“As I said, you never trained it,” he explained. “I didn’t know what my power was until our grandma started training me.”
I always noticed how he kept referring to Claudia as our grandma. I knew he wanted me to call her grandma, but I never knew her. It felt weird saying that.
“What is your power?” I asked him curiously.
“Projection,” he smiled. “I can make you see whatever I want to.”
“Really?” Annie said excitedly. “That is so cool.”
“It helped him out with the ladies,” Nick said with a smirk.
“What do you mean?” Annie asked.
Gabe sighed. “I projected an image of a hotel room into their mind so they wouldn’t know where I live, and they wouldn’t come looking for me.”
Annie laughed and I chuckled.
“Nick had to take them to an actual hotel room because a couple of girls he brought home came back looking for him,” Gabriel said with an evil smirk on his face. “His mom beat the crap out of him.”
I felt Nick tense up under me.
“Shut up, Gabriel,” he growled.
“It is okay, Nick,” I said, turning to look at him. “You have a past, and I am okay with it. I told you that.”
I really was okay with it. A little bit of jealousy did creep up into my heart, but nothing I couldn’t handle and not enough to make me resent Nick.
“I know, love,” he sighed. “But I don’t want you to have to listen to these things. And it makes my skin crawl. I couldn’t look at or touch another woman now.”
I smiled and turned back to Gabriel.
“How do I discover my power?” I asked him, changing the subject.
“I will train with you,” he smiled brightly.
I nodded and smiled at him.
“What are the next questions?” Gabriel asked me.
“If Victor knows about me, why hasn’t he taken me already?” I asked.
Nick growled and tightened his grip around me.
Gabriel frowned. “I have no idea. I don’t even know if he knows about me. It would be weird if he didn’t. That man saw me with you. He probably told him about me.”
“Could he be waiting for your 22nd birthday?” Annie asked, looking between me and Gabriel. “Your grandma said you will reach your full power on your 22nd birthday.”
“Maybe,” Gabriel sighed. “That is a year and two months away. It gives us plenty of time to prepare. I would like to kill him before that, though.”
“Me too,” Nick said. “He is an insane motherfucker.”
Gabriel nodded and looked at me. “Don’t worry about him. He will not touch you.”
I nodded, but I was still worried. This whole thing didn’t make any sense. What was he waiting for?
“What about the guy who hurt Aria?” Annie asked quietly, avoiding my gaze.
“I think he is following her,” Gabriel said, looking at me. “It wasn’t a coincidence he was at the bakery and at the club at the same time she was.”
My heart started beating painfully. I never gave it much thought, but Gabriel was right. He was following me. And he has been doing it for Goddess knows how long.
“Calm down, love,” Nick said and rubbed my back soothingly. “He will not touch you again.”
“What will we do?” Annie asked worriedly.
“We will wait for him to make another move and we will kill him,” Gabriel said calmly. “I thought about seeking him out. He has to be close by. But I am afraid of him alerting Victor. He can’t know we know he is following her. He will make his move again and that will be the last thing he will do.”
“No!” I yelled, startling everyone. “You can’t! He will hurt you!”
I was shaking uncontrollably. Just the thought of them going against him and getting hurt was terrifying.
Nick wrapped his hands around me and pulled me to his chest.
“Shh, love,” he whispered in my ear. “He can’t hurt us. He can’t hurt you. We will be okay. Breathe.”
I took a deep breath, not removing my eyes from Gabriel. My body started relaxing next to Nick’s.
“We are stronger than him, Aria,” Gabriel said confidently. “He can’t hurt us, and I am not letting him hurt you ever again.”
I nodded and tried to get off Nick’s lap. This time he let me. I sat beside him, and he took my hand in his.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” I said. “I can’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“Nothing will happen to us,” Nick smiled at me. “We are really strong and powerful.”
Annie and I chuckled.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said with a smirk. “Your lack of faith in us is kind of insulting.”
“Okay,” I sighed and smiled. “I am sorry.”
The guys grinned at me, and Annie shook her head and smiled.
“I think we should leave tomorrow,” Gabriel said, changing the subject.
“Already?” Annie said and raised her eyebrows.
“Yes,” Gabriel nodded. “The City is very dangerous right now. It will be best to leave for a while.”
“I agree,” Nick said. “We should start with Aria’s old village.”
My heart started beating faster and I smiled. I will finally be able to see Cassie and Jake.
