CHAPTER 9

I'm not sure how long we were sitting there, but I know that it did feel good to be held. I had my eyes closed and my body resting against Richard's, who was lying down. It was peaceful and I could have sworn I would have fallen asleep, because lying close to Richard and the sound of the waves were practically lolling me to sleep. Damn I wasn't being myself. And that kind of scared me. I didn't like not knowing why acted the way I did, or why I felt the way I did. Even the way I thought freaked me out! Richard Grayson was screwing with my mind, even though he didn't know it. I sat up and walked to towards the sand dunes that outlined the beach. I walked up one hill and stood at the top. It had sparse grass growing from the sand, and it had a great view of the horizon.

"I haven't meditated for a while…" I whispered to myself. I sat cross-legged and placed my hands in my lap and sat up straight. The monks taught us to block out everything when meditating. If you had to have sound, it was to be a constant beat. The beat helped you focus and bring you inside yourself where you could find your inner self and answer question you wanted to know. Questions like… 'What am I feeling?' or ' Where is the emotional pain?' I know it sounds weird, but it helped me control my feelings toward others. I ounce got extremely pissed of at this girl who was calling Sarah and me names. So I almost got in a fistfight with her, but a monk was near by and took me aside to calm down. I meditated for about a half an hour before I got calm enough to go back out to where that bitch was.

I decided to use the sound of the waves' break as my beat. I focus on it, which wasn't hard because there were barely any other sounds beside the waves. There was an occasional bark from someone's dog, or a child's scream, but I blocked it all out by focusing on that one sound.

"So I finally found you?" A deep voice came from within.

I jumped at the sound. I turned. There was nobody there. I went back to meditating.

"You mean you don't know who is talking to you my child?" The voice laughed.

At this moment I knew it was no one physically talking to me. It was my father who had apparently found me and had contacted me. You see meditating can be dangerous because it opens up other "lines". It allows others to talk to me from far away, or the other way around. So now that I was meditating, it opened a line that my father noticed and now he found me.

"Get out of my head!" I whispered. 'Just concentrate on the waves Rachelle.' I tried to ignore my father sinister voice.

"Now that I know where you are…what are going to do?" His voice rang throughout my mind. I knew he was only playing with my head. He trying to make me scared…weak…vulnerable. I tried harder to focus on the sound of the waves.

"I'm going to get you my dear child. You can't run or hide." He yelled.

"No, no. He's not there…just ignore him Rachelle…" I whispered to myself trying to reassure he couldn't come get me and hurt me.

"Sarah is dead now is she?" He knew the answer he just wanted to remind me about her death, torment me.

"Shut up…" I growled. My eyes were squeezed shut and my hands were not calmly placed in my lap but balled up into fists.

"So who killed her? Oh yeah, your boyfriend George. Did it hurt to know he betrayed you?" The Dark Angel taunted. A tear was shed from my squeezed eye. It rolled down my face. "Sorry about that honey. Did that bring back a bad memory?"

"Shut up and get out of my mind!" I growled through clenched teeth.

"Do you miss her? Sarah I mean."

"Calm down Rachelle." I encouraged myself.

"I'm going to find you. I will hunt you down and…"

"Rachelle? Are you okay?" I felt a tap on my shoulder and gave a small shriek. My eyes shot open and I turned around.

"Richard, oh thank god it's you!" I cried and jumped up hugging him. I know that I wasn't being myself, yet again, but I was so happy he was there and well…I guess I was scared and him being there…made me feel safe, something I haven't felt since my sister's death.

"Um, yeah…" Richard was shocked and wasn't sure weather or not to hug me back or just stand there. He started to hold me gently and rock me back and forth. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine…never mind, just bad thoughts." I sobbed. I clung on to his damp shirt. He started to pat my head.

"Do you want to go home?" He whispered to me.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." I didn't want it to seem I didn't appreciate him taking me to his sanctuary.

"No, no. You look a little shaken up. Let's go home." He said leading me back down the sand dune.

"Wait…I don't want to go home…" It was the truth. At that moment being alone was the last thing I wanted.

"Why?" He asked, his arm still around me as we walked to the car.

"Don't ask why, but I'm scared." I confessed. I've never admitted that I was scared before. I've only admitted my feelings to Sarah.

"I'll stay with you until you feel comfortable." He offered opening the door for me as I sat in the passenger's seat. He took his seat behind the wheel and drove out of the parking lot.

"Thank you for taking me there, it was really fun." I said barley above a whisper. I couldn't help but feel just a little bit guilty because he wanted to surprise me by taking me someplace special to him, and I ruined it.

"So you didn't mind me carrying you under the water with me?" He smirked.

"Whatever." I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the car passing by the trees.

"You ok?" Richard asked taking a moment to peer over at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine…it was just…" I stopped trying to search my mind for an excuse for the way I was acting. "Never mind." I couldn't find an excuse so I just dropped it.

"So what do you want to do now that its almost 3:00?" He asked.

"If you tired of me, just say so and you can be free once again." I said with a sigh.

"W-what would make you think I'm tired of you?" He asked with a slit hint of offense in is tone. I rolled the window down and hung my hand out of it feeling the wind slip through my fingers.

"I just don't want to waist your day…" I shrugged.

"You are certainly not wasting my day!" He winked at me.

"Yeah, don't do that." I said plainly.

"You mean this…?" He winked again.

I turned away.

"I'm ignoring you now…"

The rest of the drive was silent. I was relaxing…well, it looked like I was relaxing. But I was really doing the opposite. My incident with my dad really freaked me out. I just sat there wondering how he could find me. Was it possible? What happened if he did find me? I knew that one. He'd bring me back to hell, destroy my White Angel's side and use me to do whatever evil he wants. 'I'm screwed!'

As soon as we left the dense trees, I could see that while we had been driving the sky had been polluted with storm clouds. Whenever it rained, Sarah and I would go the temple because in the temple's courtyard was a gazebo. It was painted black. We would just lie down on the wooden floor and talk while listening to the drops of water on the gazebo's roof.

"So now that it is raining and there's nothing to do but go to your place and…" Richard grinned an evil grin and looked at me and then arched his brow.

"If you're thinking of what I think you're think, I will stab you through the heart and…" I began ready to slap him silly.

"Whoa, don't kill me! I was talking about watching a movie you sick minded woman!" He laughed. He meant it to sound perverted and now he's making me look like the fool.

"Whatever…jerk."

"So does that sound like a good idea? My idea I mean. Not your nasty minded idea." He joked.

"Yes. Your idea is fine." I rolled my eyes.

We took a left and pulled into a parking lot. We walked into the movie store.

"So what do you want to see?" Richard asked me as we strolled through the movie shelves.

"A horror movie." I walked straight over to the horror videos and started to browse the store's selection. "Masked Death, Darkness Falls, Black Blood, The Killed, Crisis…" I read the names aloud. Richard was behind me looking at the movies I read aloud and saying yes or no. After much debating, we found our movie, rented it, and returned to the car to go back to my hotel room. I have to admit, it was nice to have him around. Like I said before, he made me feel safe.

As we were driving home, it started to rain. When we got to my hotel, we rushed out of the car with the DVD and ran inside the warm and dry environment.

"We need to take the elevator up three floors." I explained leading Richard through the hotel lobby. I press the up button.

"Ok Rae." He said leaning against the wall.

"Rae?" I asked raising my brow at his pet name for me.

"What? Is that not a good nickname?" He asked looking down at me with a side grin.

"If you call me Rae, then I'll call you…Rich." I threatened.

"Okay, if that was a threat, then remind me to never let you be a terrorist." He snorted.

"Shut up." I retorted.

The elevator's door opened with a ding. We walked into the small cabin and pressed the third floor button. I backed up into the corner and leaned my head against the wall.

"You still scared?" Richard asked. Clearly he had noticed the look of anxiety, terror, and anguish on my face because when I looked at him, he looked so concerned it was cute. 'SHIT! There I go again! Thinking a guy is cute. I hate myself for betraying my feelings.'

"Rae?" He asked again after I didn't answer because I was to busy thinking how I let myself down by falling for Richard Grayson.

"Uh? Oh…yeah. I'm okay, but still a little shaky. Thanks for caring." I said turning my back to him and leaning my shoulder against the walls of the elevator. The bell rang indicating we were at my floor. The doors spread open and we exited the elevator's cabin and into the hallway.

"I'm in room #334." I said walking down the hall a ways and then rounding a corner. I stopped in front of my door and searched for my keys until I found them in my back pocket. I slipped the key into the hole and opened the door.

"I know it's small, but it's all I can afford." I defended myself.

Richard followed me in and started to look around.

"You like herbal tea, don't you?" He was looking at my many boxes of tea bags.

"It wakes me up without that nasty taste of coffee. And it calms me down." I smiled and went over to the TV cabinet that was by my bed. I pressed the eject button and placed the movie in the slot.

"Do you want anything to drink? I have…well, obviously tea. But I also have water, juice, I think I have a soda that I bought at the café but never drank it." I offered.

"Just water. But thanks." Richard came over to the bed and lay down on it. He kicked his shoes off, crossed his feet, and placed his hands behind his head.

"Make yourself at, even though it doesn't look like you need an invitation." I said opening the refrigerator and pulling out bottled water. I walked back over to the TV and pressed play and lay down besides Richard.

"Here's your water." I handed the bottled water to him. He opened it and started to chug down half the water.

The movie was long, but it wasn't scary… but not scary enough to freak me out. I rarely got freaked out. It's only when my father tells me he going to hunt me down that I might get scared. There were a few times during the movie that I had to scoot a little closer to Richard. He put his arm around me and started to rub my shoulder in comfort. By the end of the movie it was 6:35 p.m. and it was still raining outside.

"I got up to make myself some tea and get another bottled water for Richard who had chugged the second half of his water before a half hour into the movie.

"That was a good movie." I said trying to make conversation.

"I could tell it was because you got scared and cuddled with me." Richard teased.

"I'm making HOT water for my tea. So unless you want it thrown in your face, shut up." I growled. Truth be told. I didn't really get scared. I just wanted to be closer to Richard. 'And now I sound like some girly girl with a crush. Oh my God! Please, please don't turn into Shelly, Rachelle!'

"Catch." I said throwing the bottled water from the kitchen to where Richard was still laying on the bed. He caught it. I waited for the teakettle to shriek and then I poured it into my mug and placed a tea bag in the boiling water.

"Can I use your bathroom Rae?" Richard asked standing up and walking towards me.

"Sure, Rich. It's just that way." I pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

"Thanks." He said walking into the bathroom.

"And that's what happens when you drinks that much water…" I mumbled.

I started to play with the tea bag's string when I heard a knock. I jumped at the sound.

"That's weird. Who would be at my door? Must be Karin…" I walked to the door and opened it. I froze and let out a scream.