A Vampire for Christmas(80)

He raised his face and the anguish there had darkened his eyes almost to black. She tightened her hold on him and together they watched the remainder of the vision play out.

Damien lowered a mortally wounded Angelina to the ground and cradled her in his arms.

No, Angelina. Please don’t die,” Damien whispered. His blood and tears fell on her face as she struggled for breath. Each inhale more labored and less forceful. Life failed her until darkness claimed her.

Darkness likewise swept away the images in the room, leaving her and Damien bathed only in the moonlight streaming through the windows of his bedroom.

Damien was still huddled on the ground with her embracing him. Their bodies shook from the emotions they had been forced to reexperience. From the lessons they’d both had to learn.

But then something seemed to course through Damien. He shuddered and rose, taking hold of her hand to urge her upward. His resolute, determined gaze met hers.

You’ve shown me the past and the present. What of the future?” he asked, gripping her hand tightly, almost as if fearing what she would show him.

I do not know the future, Damien. Only you can decide what it will be.”

His generous lips thinned into a tight line. His silver-blue gaze grew hard, like polished stone. “I will not risk your life again. I will not face Ramirez.”

Her gut twisted, the pain so great she pressed her free hand to her middle as if she had been struck.

I’m not sure that’s possible,” she said, fearing what she would tell him next.

He searched her features, seeking some clue to what she meant, and then shook his head when he could not. “I don’t understand. Are we fated to meet again? Is that the punishment for the life I’ve led? To suffer the hell of losing you over and over?”

Sadly, she knew this was the last Christmas Eve they would share. “If you do not learn your lesson, I must leave and never return.”

He laughed harshly and dropped her hand. He laid his arms across his chest defensively and stalked away from her, to the window, where he stood for long moments, peering out at the storm, clearly deep in thought.

Finally, he faced her, the lines of his face looking gaunt beneath the silvering of the moonlight. “And if I learn my lesson? What then?”

She walked back to him, laid a hand on his shoulder, willing peace into his soul. “My task is to guide you to the path of what is right. If I succeed, I move on. If I fail…”

She didn’t really know what would happen if she failed. She supposed she’d go to Heaven, but just not as a Guardian Angel. It had never occurred to her that she might go elsewhere….

You must confront Ramirez,” she said, dreading what might happen if the two men came together once more, but understanding that it was fated. It was an unavoidable battle in the war for Damien’s soul.

Why? What is so important that I would risk my immortal soul and yours for that piece of slime?” he argued.

Angelina girded herself, drawing in a shaky breath, preparing herself for what she would ask of him.

Ramirez took my wings and I must get them back.”

CHAPTER EIGHT



DAMIEN WAS PUZZLED, unable to understand why this visit of hers was so radically different. Why had he not noticed that she was not human during their earlier encounters? Why hadn’t her inhumanity occurred to him, given her reappearance in his life?

The first two times you came to me…you didn’t have wings.”

She dipped her head to confirm his observations. “Not when I came to see you, but when I first arrived in the mortal realm I did. To hide our presence here on Earth while we’re on a mission, our wings disappear almost as soon as we land.”

Then what happened this time? What changed?” Damien asked, narrowing his eyes as he searched her features for any sign that she was different from the Angelina he had met in his two other lifetimes.

When I came back to Earth this time Ramirez was there, waiting. It was almost as if he knew I was returning.”

Understanding dawned as he recalled the injuries he had tended earlier in the night. “Those wounds on your back…”

Before I could become fully human, his men grabbed me and Ramirez sliced off my wings.”

Damien shook his head and then dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. Some had said Ramirez had made a pact with the Devil. Maybe it was true. Maybe that’s how he had known where to be so that he could ambush Angelina.

But regardless of how Ramirez had captured her wings, Damien intended to help her retrieve them. He reached out, tenderly wrapping her in his arms. Bending his head, he rested his forehead against hers. “Why does he want your wings?”