Love Beyond Loyalty

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gabriel dove to the floor. Hitting the ground hurt like hell but he was sure it was less painful than getting hit by whatever energy Sebastian hurled at him. Wow, he'd counted on pissing the demon off when he'd chucked him out the window, but he hadn't expected to make him quite this mad.

  It didn't really matter. If it gave Loraine enough time to acquire the books, it was worth the effort.

  "You thought you could destroy me, you pathetic creature? You thought you alone were enough to bring me down?"

  No way did he think he could handle Sebastian on his own. Only an idiot would be that foolish. However, he did think Sebastian was enough of an egomaniac to not notice that Loraine had run from the room because Gabe had attacked him.

  "I may not have killed you, but I pushed you out the damn window and that was pretty fucking funny."

  Sebastian roared, and the sound was more akin to a beast than a human. Everything about his 'foster brother' was becoming more and more animalistic as time went on. His voice sounded thicker, his eyes seemed to be moving inwards. Any second Gabriel anticipated seeing the man grow horns.

  With a flick of his wrist, Gabriel backed Sebastian up another few feet. "You smell Sebastian. I can't have that much radiating sulfur coming at me. It just stinks. I'm going to have to keep moving you back, man."

  Sebastian's eyes glowed red. "I'm going to eat your soul."

  "I'm going to give you indigestion."

  He needed a minute to collect his thoughts and come up with a plan of action. Leonardo, Kal, and Isabelle weren't anywhere he could see, which most likely meant Sebastian had put them in the basement.

  Whatever he did, he needed to not overuse his power supply. One way or another, he had to have enough energy left to send Loraine back to Maine if she needed rescue. Hoping he was stronger than he'd been in the past, if for no other reason than pure adrenaline, he pushed forward sending Sebastian out of the house.

  He hadn't practiced with his power well enough to know exactly how far he'd sent the demon but hopefully it was enough time to get them all out of the building. His warrior instincts demanded he fight, but he was smart enough to know that his powers were mostly defensive not offensive, and sometimes the best strategy was to retreat and regroup.

  Jumping to his feet, he tried to ignore the pain in his left knee as he ran down the hall. He must have jammed it with his last fall. There was no time to deal with it now.

  Throwing open the door, he found Loraine standing over a group of books. She looked up and smiled when he came in.

  "Did you win?"

  "No, I temporarily sent him away. What are you still doing here?"

  The feeling of relief at seeing her okay was tempered greatly by his annoyance that she hadn't gotten out of the house.

  "Gabriel, this whole room is filled with stuff we need. These are Abraxas's journals and almost every book in here is about us. I can't leave any of it."

  He wanted to pull out his hair. "Then forget about all of it and run for safety."

  Her eyes flared, but he didn't care.

  "I might get afraid, that doesn't mean I'm a coward."

  "I never said you were."

  Damn it, his powers were significantly drained, but it looked like he had no choice. It wasn't like he could bring in a damn moving van and pack up the boxes full of books.

  "Move out of the way."

  Loraine stepped to the side, and he waved his hand through the air imagining the Outsider living room. With luck, the books would land there. A whoosh filled the room as objects disappeared from where they had just been.

  He looked up at his beloved who had narrowed her eyes. "You're exhausted."

  Holding out his hand, he tried to smile. "Come on. We're not done."

  "I think you're the one who should leave, not me."

  "Sweetheart, I don't have the energy to fight you. For once, just take my hand and let's get the hell out of here."

  He was never more grateful for anything in his life than he was when he felt her soft fingers touch his.

  They stepped out into the hall and they'd not taken more then two steps when Gabriel heard a dog barking. Loraine gasped and ran in the opposite direction from where they needed to go.

  She let go of his hand even as he called for her to come back. "What are you doing?"

  "It's Futon. He's here!"

  "He's going to have to wait. I can't come with you. I have to get the others out of the basement."

  She whirled around. Before she spoke, he could see the determination written all over her face with her mouth thinned and narrowed gaze. "You go get them out. I have to find my dog. I have to."

  Hell. "Okay, you have five minutes, and then I'm coming to find you. Tell Futon that, and if I have to seek you out I'm going to fucking yell at him for not bringing you to me sooner."

  He turned around as fast as he could so he didn't have to watch her move away from him. Seeing her do that would be too much. He'd have to follow her. Sebastian was momentarily gone. Hopefully they could get this all under control and be gone before he returned.

  Opening the door to the basement, he heard Leonardo and Isabelle speaking below. Taking the stairs two at a time, Isabelle gasped when he approached. Looking up, he immediately noticed Kal and Leonardo dangling from the ceiling and Isabelle chained to the floor.

  Fuck.

  "Gabriel." Isabelle's relief at seeing him made him smile. Most people had the opposite reaction when he arrived in the room. It was, he supposed, possible that these people might someday be akin to family to him. A fucked up family, but family nonetheless.

  Leonardo's feet jumped but Kal stayed motionless. Gabriel moved closer. "Is Kal dead?"

  Isabelle gasped. "No, he's unconscious. Don't say things like that."

  He shrugged. There went her excitement at seeing him. "Okay."

  "I'm not dead either but thanks for your concern."

  Gabriel smiled at Leonardo. "Nah, you're too mean to kill."

  He looked around until he saw what he needed. Grabbing a chair, he pulled it so he could climb up to examine Leonardo's restraints.

  From down below, Isabelle spoke. "Where is the demon? What was that bang? Leonardo thinks he can take the demon's powers."

  Gabriel whistled through his teeth. That was a bad idea. "Please don't do that. I've temporarily sent him on his way." Climbing up, he looked at the restraints. Metal. Of course, they were.

  Having no way to get Leonardo or Kal down, Gabriel knew he had no choice. It wasn't a great option. Taxing his powers to the max in a short period of time was bound to drain him dry.

  He stepped down from the chair and wrapped his arms around Kal's legs. "Leonardo, prepare to hit the ground."

  Without another word, he pictured their restraints and sent them away. Leonardo let out a yell as he tumbled to the floor. Kal fell into his arms thanks to his grip on the other man. Isabelle jumped up and helped him get Kal onto the floor.

  "Thanks for the warning."

  Gabriel glared at Leonardo. It was time to find Loraine. Probably past time. But then Isabelle looked up from the floor. Her eyes filled with tears, she barely whispered. "I can't rouse him at all."

  All he wanted to do was to collapse onto the ground and sleep for a week with Loraine tucked beside him. The way he had overused his abilities today he'd be lucky if he lived through the rest of the night let alone got somewhere where he could actually pass out.

  There was just no choice. Kal had to get to Jason, and he needed to be there immediately. "Okay, I'm going to send you guys back."

  Leonardo shook his head. "I love Kal like a brother. I would do anything for him. He would never, ever want you to do that right now. Your whole body seems like you're two seconds away from collapsing."

  "Don't say that Leonardo. We have to get Kal home."

  Gabe understood her desperation. Dear gods, the very thought of Loraine getting hurt was more than he could tolerate. He stood. "I'm fine. Perf
ectly capable of sending you guys back to Maine. Don't worry about me."

  He smiled his best 'give me what I want' grin. It was a trick he'd learned on the street. He'd conned many an old lady into buying him food with just a grin and a wink. The truth was he would do it whether Leonardo wanted him to or not, but he preferred not to piss off the unofficial leader of the group he had sort of chosen to join.

  Leonardo rubbed his wrists and Gabe's estimation of him increased tenfold. The man hadn't complained about how much his confinement must have hurt him. "We can't afford to lose any of us. You have to promise me that if you do this you'll still be okay to get yourself home."

  He nodded. "I'm fine." I'm also a really good liar.

  Without another word he waved his hand and even though he felt his power stutter for a second, he managed to send the three of them back to Maine. They blinked out of his eyesight and he hoped Jason was able to give Kal what he needed.

  For a second, he stood still and then the world went black around him. Hell, he had overdone it and he wasn't going to get to Loraine. Tears that he hadn't cried since he was five-years-old filled his eyes. He was so fucking sorry.

  * * * *

  Light passed through his closed eyelids and he opened his eyes to blink. A massive throb pounded just above his nose and he groaned.

  "Are you okay?"

  The husky voice asking him that question was not the one he wanted to hear. As his vision cleared, he became aware that he was in Alexa's bedroom. Rubbing his face with his hand, he sat up.

  "I over did it with my abilities."

  To Alexa he would still not call them powers. She would find that too odd.

  "Did you and Sebastian fight? The living room is destroyed."

  What should he say? And where was Loraine? "Um, we had a disagreement of sorts."

  It was an incredibly complicated situation dealing with Alexa's issues. On one hand, he wanted to just level with her. 'Sebastian is a demon, Alexa, and you are supposed to be helping me kill him not living here sharing meals'. On the other hand, he knew her as well as he knew anyone—well, not as well as he knew beautiful Loraine—and he knew that when Alexa got her back up to the wall she tended to do the wrong thing. Somehow, it had to be her idea to come with him.

  Or at least that was what he had been telling himself for a year.

  Fuck, he was hungry and achy. He wanted his girl.

  Mostly, he just wanted to be able to talk to Alexa as if she were a regular person instead of walking on eggshells with a woman brainwashed by a demon.

  She shook her head and crossed to her window. A lot of his friends found her incredibly attractive. It was amazing how the soul mate business worked. She did nothing for him. No, only one particular girl with long red curls could turn his head.

  "I wish you wouldn't fight with him." She sighed. "You're family."

  He shook his head. "He and I are not family. How did I get up here?"

  "I dragged you up the stairs. It wasn't easy. I had to manipulate you onto a rug and then I pulled the rug."

  For Alexa, who didn't usually like tasks that required her to engineer something, that was a big undertaking.

  "Thank you."

  She shook her head and looked at him. "You're welcome."

  There was no time like the present to put his cards on the table. "Alexa, at what point did I become the bad guy in your life? At what point did you decide to believe everything Sebastian said as gospel?"

  Her eyes flared with anger and he thought he saw a spark of red in them. Hell, just how influential had Sebastian become to her? How much evil did she carry around in her soul?

  He shuddered at the thought of her turning to the Darkness. The little girl who he'd huddled with under a liquor store's awning to wait out a rainstorm could not become a minion of the demon. It was too sick for words.

  "When you ran off and joined the very people we'd always sworn to protect the world from."

  He stood. Awash with dizziness, he thought he might vomit all over her floor, which was amusing considering he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten anything. Sitting down would relieve his discomfort. However, he had no wish to have this conversation at a disadvantage with Alexa. If she stood, he needed to as well.

  Forcing himself back up, he was relieved when the earlier dizziness held off.

  "When we made those promises, Lexie, we didn't know the truth of things. A person who didn't have our best interests at heart misled us. In fact, Sebastian has had his own agenda where we are concerned since before he was born."

  She threw her hands in the air. "How far has this gone, Gabe? Does the cult now have you believing there are past lives involved here?"

  "They're not a cult."

  As she stormed to the other side of the room, he tried to remind himself that this was Alexa who he cared about and not some petulant child he wanted to put in time out.

  "Then what are they? A religious organization?"

  Gabe felt his anger deflate. His shoulders relaxed. There was no point in yelling at her. He tried to imagine what Loraine would do. Reaching out with his mind, he tried to speak to his beloved telepathically. Nothing came back to him. She was either too far away, he was too tired, or there was a problem. He was going to have to find out which one it was.

  "We are the Outsiders. We've always existed in many times. Generations of our ancestors helped to keep the balance of good and bad on earth and in other planes of existence."

  Alexa furrowed her eyebrows as she listened. He wasn't even sure where the words came from. It was like they had been imprinted on his brain as he slept, as if he'd always known them and didn't realize he had.

  "Things would have continued this way. All of us being born and living in the hidden hills in France but a prophecy came that spoke of certain doom. Eighteen children born together, nine sets of soul mates, destined to fight the greatest demon to ever come to Earth."

  He moved closer to her. He wanted her to see how serious he was.

  "In an effort to thwart it, our birth parents unleashed the very evil they feared and then tried to save us by sending us from them before they died. We were accidently separated. Four were raised as Outsiders. You and I were both sent here. The rest are slowly coming together, each one finding their soul mate, meeting the group, and fulfilling their destinies as a pair."

  She stared him in the eyes, uncertainty in her slouched posture and her chewed on mouth. "Are you saying you're my soul mate?"

  He shook his head. "You know it's not like that between us. My soul mate is a redheaded beauty that I would walk through fire for. I have to find her so I can't stay here and debate this with you anymore."

  Extending his hand, he waited for her to take it. "Yours is out there too. Come be an Outsider, Alexa. Sebastian is a demon. He wants to eat your soul. Together, we can all bring him down." He swallowed and paused before he spoke again. "I'm loyal to Loraine. I'm loyal to the Outsiders. I was always loyal to you but after today, if you stay here with the demon, I won't be anymore. What will it be?"

  She backed up two steps. "Are you threatening me?"

  That was a good question. "I guess I am. This time I can't come and steal you away when you realize you've made a mistake and you knock on my window. You have to come now. If you stay here, I fear it will be too late to bring you back."

  Alexa remained absolutely still. He knew it could go either way. He'd not given her an out. She would either do the right thing or she would lash out in violence.

  "This is all sick, Gabe." Her words held such vehemence. "How dare you stand there and preach to me like you're holier than thou. You, who used to steal and con people to get what you wanted. You say Sebastian is a demon? I say he's a good man who took us in, protected us, understood us, and you've done nothing, nothing but betray him. You should be ashamed of yourself."

  He nodded because what else was there to do? "If you find your path to us, and you haven't betrayed us too badly in the meantime, I'm sure we'll t
ake you in. Don't wait too long to find your way."

  Turning on his heel, he left her room, and then the house. It was time to find Loraine. Past time. He needed her. He needed to know she was safe, she was fine, and she was his.

  He'd done his Outsider duty and kept Alexa alive into adulthood. It was a shame she might never grow up.

  Gabe knew one woman in particular who would never betray him. She'd grown up completely unprotected except for an old woman, a magical dog, and some fabricated stories of dead parents.

  He wished it had been her tapping at his window at three in the morning.

  Chapter Seventeen

  "I have to go inside to him."

  "You can't."

  Futon had been saying that to her for the last two hours. She knew his reasoning, and it was sound. Sebastian the demon stood between her and the house. He paced back and forth in front of the wrap-around porch.

  His eyes glowed red, and occasionally she saw the smallest amount of black smoke release from his nostrils. If she and Futon wanted to speak, they had to whisper.

  "He's so angry that he's releasing his true form."

  Loraine nodded. What Futon said made sense. So far, her sweet dog that had been with her for so many years refused to tell her anything about where he'd been. He hadn't even given the courtesy of one of his strange remarks that said something but answered nothing. Futon had simply chosen to remain absolutely silent on the subject.

  "I want to get inside to Gabriel." She desired it so badly her hands had started to shake. Did he think she'd abandoned him? So far she'd been unable to reach him telepathically. "I'm afraid he's in trouble."

  "He's fine. You would know if he were not. Outsiders feel their soul mates deaths as if they themselves die."

  Well, that was a disturbing statement. She hadn't actually thought 'dead'. Swallowing her fear, she looked down at her dog. He had been her friend, her guide over the years when she hadn't known what to do with her strange abilities and her loneliness.

  Now, while she was relieved to be reunited with her dog, his interference in what she wanted to do proved to be a problem. It was, she imagined, akin to children coming back from being on their own to try to live under the dictates of his or her parents. There was something incredibly restraining about the whole thing.