Chapter Two
Sitting in the sofa was a woman, leaning towards the screen,
staring at the TV as if she had never seen something like it. She shot a
glance at Grace every ten minutes to see if something had changed. Grace
stopped her pacing and put her hands at her waist in a threatening manner
as somebody from the TV yelled; "I'm a Vampire, and I'm proud of it! Don't
get those lights any more closer, I'll burn!"
Looking at the mesmerized woman, Grace sighed.
"Do you ever do anything else?" she snapped.
The woman looked up at her with a sweet smile.
"Well of course, Gracie, whatever you wish, your hot-tempered
highness." She leaned back in the sofa and looked at her friend with sad
eyes. "Why are you so angry?"
"Didn't you hear our fight?!"
"How could one miss..." Gray sighed and began twisting some
of her blackdyed hair in a spiral. She shot Grace an irritated glare with
her ice-blue eyes. "Why must you always fight with Gabe?"
"Because he is such an idiot! He doesn't understand his own
well being! If he had been in charge he would sleep in a dumpster right
now!"
"I thought Gabe was in charge."
"No he's not. I am now. And I know what's best for him, so
why he doesn't follow my advice when..."
"But," Gray interrupted, "If he is such an idiot, why do you
care? Just abandon him, you'll manage on your own."
Grace looked horrified.
"I can't! He'll only get drunk, then somebody will slit his
throat just because they think that damned talisman is in gold!"
"So?"
"I can't just leave him!"
"Why?"
Grace looked at Gray, who was twisting her hair with both eyes
locked at the TV where one of the 'vampires' where throttling Ricki while
the audience was cheering, and understood that her friend was dead serious.
She sat down beside Gray, she felt utterly tired.
"How come I do so much for Gabe while he is out on the streets
getting himself into trouble that he expects me to get him out of?" she
murmured.
Gray didn't reply, simply took Grace's hand and squeezed it.
The Chinese woman leaned her head on her friend's shoulder, feeling that
sleep was overmanning her.
"What's time..." she began, but drifted off before she heard
the answer. Gray stroked her fine hair with a sad smile.
That was how Gabriel found them when he arrived,
chill having spread into the marrow of his very bones, but still rather
happy.
"Hey, children!" he beamed to Gray who turned her head and
raised a finger to her mouth.
"She's asleep." the woman formed with her lips, saying nothing.
"Get a blanket."
Gabriel shrunk a little, forming the words "Oops", but they
died in his throat at Gray's stern gaze.
"I'll get the blanket."
He scrambled into the bedroom, tearing a sheet from the unmade
bed. He looked at it with disgust.
"Ugh. It's pink."
He tiptoed into the main room and draped it over the slumbering
form of Grace. The same happiness that had been his mate the whole way home
crept over him again. A smile spread on his face and Gray looked at him for
a while before she ushered him into the kitchen.
Well there she finally spoke.
"God, Gabe, you're cold as an icicle! I'll make some tea for
you."
"Thanks, that'd be great." he shivered and sat down close to
the oven from where a faint smell of baking bread clutched his nostrils.
"What are you baking?"
"I'm not, Gracie was. She thought that you might be hungry
since you didn't eat anything for dinner." Gray shot a meaning glance at
him while pouring some of the hot liquid into cups and handed one to Gabe.
He sipped it and immediately burned his tongue, but after a
few seconds he decided he was cold enough for not caring and gulped down
the whole cup. Gray raised an eyebrow but said nothing, simply looked at
him.
Then she drew a deep breath.
"What did Wrath want to speak with you about?"
Gabriel looked at her with a faint smile.
"You'd really like to know that wouldn't you?" he said and
tilted his head in the same manner as his female friend just had, mocking
her a little.
"You're not just an idiot, you're rude too." Gray stated with
a laugh. Then she rose. "I'd better go find him. We don't want him running
off again, do we?"
Gabriel chuckled and nodded at her.
"You do that, and I'll drink your tea too. When should I take
out the bread?"
Gray watched the clock hanging over the doorway.
"In about ten minutes. Good luck, Shadow Hunter," she said
as she closed Graces beige coat around her waist and left. Gabriel looked
into the oven, his mind drifting away on the dreams of the good old days,
before the huntingcrap that had wounded him so badly.
What would he do if he got a chance to go back in time and
change everything? He didn't know.