Disclaimer: (see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

"An-gel!"

She was shaken at the tone of the voice. The sternness from Andrew's scolding brought a similar memory—that of her father scolding her that night before Araphim took her away—to the surface of her thoughts. Yet the cause for Andrew's displeasure was different. The music that Erik played for her last night still enshrouded her—making it hard for her to concentrate.

"I'm trying." She maturely protested. "But it's quite difficult to trigger the sensory ability without his actual presence." Absently, Angel tapped her finger against the stump of a tree in the backyard of Marie's home. The mid-morning sun filtered through the bare branches of the tree.

"Perhaps maybe we should lure him here." Tobias comically quipped.

"This isn't a joking matter, Father Bennett." Andrew snapped. Angel grew completely still, never really seeing Andrew this upset before. He turned back to her, "Now, let's try it again. You have to become familiar with it as soon as possible. Who knows when he'll show up."

Angel sighed. After showing up at her home three times (unexpectedly) and a phone call directly to her, there was no telling what he was up to now. Erik had promised to give her and her guardian's space during this time. She shook herself, forcing herself away from slipping into thoughts of what he might be up to during her absence. Concentrate. She closed her eyes, figuring that it might help. Angel pictured her feared mentor calmly walking up to her from behind. She focused so hard on the imagination that she started feeling the familiar pull growing.

Andrew, Tobias and Finn quickly noticed her breathing changing—becoming that of a woman enthralled within an illicit moment. They shared an uneasy glance—each noting that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "Perhaps we should call this off before…" Finn began, but an outburst from Angel alarmed them.

Tears fell from her eyes as her chest heaved and her knees buckled. "Reece…please…take me." She had thought she felt his hands grab her. One last lustful whisper escaped her lips, "I need you now!" Before she snapped open her eyes, she had pulled the owner of the hands to her lips.

"Good heavens!" Tobias muttered in obvious shock. That shook her from her reverie and she jerked away to find that she had deeply kissed Andrew on the lips.

"Oh god." To say she was embarrassed was a complete understatement. Angel felt mortified as she hastily jumped to her feet and backed away from them. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry!" She began to mumble repetitively. Andrew nervously brushed at his robe, but managed to pull himself together. Just as he was about to put her at ease, Angel turned and fled from the scene.

"Angel, wait!" Andrew called out. She ignored him, as well as ignoring Erik who had been at the porch watching in slight understandable horror. Angel fled all the way up to her room and locked the door—perhaps never to come out again.

Marie and Meg glanced up from the couch in the living room as Angel flew by. By the time they rose to their feet in concern, all of the men had entered the room. "What is going on? What had brought that child to tears?" Marie questioned, staring at Erik accusingly.

"I had nothing to do with this, Marie." Erik defended himself.

"It was my fault." Andrew stepped forward.

"Technically not, Father Keirnan." Tobias piped in.

"Just someone explain!" Marie shot glances to all of them. Andrew sat across from her and began with a brief intro about how they were training Angel, going into slight detail on how the whole thing deviated into one tragic mess.

"And that's when she kissed me." Andrew trailed off then.

Meg spoke up then, just itching to ask the question from Father Keirnan's first visit here. "Just how dangerous is she?" Erik was aghast from the spoken question, but he found he was curious as well.

"Angel must always be aware of how she emits her expressions. Although Reece desires her, he desires more to have influence over her." Tobias began.

Erik shot to his feet. Suddenly he wasn't so interested to hear the explanation. "I'm going to check up on her." He left the room without a word.

"Don't mind him." Marie comforted. "Please, continue."

Finn leaned forward then, "I'm sure Father Keirnan hinted that her power was a gift and a curse." Meg and Marie nodded. "Well, the positive side is that she could effortlessly talk her way out of a robbery or some other worst case scenario."

"And the negative?" Meg insisted.

"The negative?" Andrew took over the conversation then, "The negative is perhaps something more sinister than Hitler." Meg gasped at the analogy. "With just a simple word, she could gather the masses under her at a faster rate than Hitler. The only difference is that her followers would easily commit any obscenity just to please her."

"No second thoughts." Finn added. "No first thoughts either."

"Simply put…" Tobias translated for Meg and Marie, "…they would truly be blind followers." Marie put a hand to her mouth in shock. Meg just stared at her feet dumbly. "But we're here to make sure Reece doesn't get her."

Erik returned by the end of the conversation, completely flustered. "She's not answering!" He looked to Marie with a lost, pleading expression.

"Alright, Erik. Sit down and I'll try to coax her out." Marie left the room. Erik collapsed on the couch in a defeated heap. Once outside of Angel's bedroom door, Marie gave pause. She listened silently to hear anything. Nothing. With a sigh, she raised her hand and knocked. "Angel. Open the door at once!" Just as it appeared that she would have to result to a motherly force, Angel had opened the door. The sight that filled Marie was the tear-stained face of her adoptive daughter.

Angel stepped aside and let Marie into the room, hastily shutting the door behind the woman lest anyone else tried to enter uninvited. The moment the door shut, Angel fell into a mumbled rush of a rant, "OH god Marie! What have I done!?" The young woman began her frantic pace. "I was just supposed to imagine it. But before I could stop myself, it felt so real. The lust was real, Marie. The need was swallowing me! And then I mistook Andr—Father Keirnan's hands for HIS!" Marie found it quite difficult to follow and struggled to manage. "God I kissed him—KISSED HIM, Marie! Deep and full on the lips! A priest…but not just any priest, one from my childhood—a friend!" Suddenly Angel froze, "Erik…oh god, ERIK! He saw, he saw EVERYTHING!"

"Angel, relax, my child. Erik understands." Marie tried to calm the younger woman.

"Now he's seen just how bad this is." Angel finally collapsed onto the bed. "I can't face any of them."

"Father Keirnan's explained it all to us. So of course you can face the world still." Marie assured her. Angel was just sniffles now, having lost the momentum of her distress. "Come, you will see." Angel pulled free and violently shook her head.

There was silence until Angel spoke, calmly this time, "I'm afraid, Marie. So far, they've been able to thwart all of his attempts. But how long…how long can we expect to get lucky?"

"Luck will always be with us, my dear." Erik stood in the doorway, causing Angel to remember that she forgot to lock it. She wondered if he was there the whole time during her frantic rant.

Angel shook her head at him, "Each attempt has only managed to make it harder to resist him, Erik." She revealed her thoughts and feelings about all of Reece's attempts to get her. Erik pulled her into his arms, expressing to her that he still wanted her. "I can't do the trainings anymore. It will only benefit HIM."

"Hush, Angel." Erik soothed her. He had already planned to put his foot down on any more of the priest's ridiculous ideas.

The warehouse resembled the neighboring structures beside it. Even if they do come snooping around here, they would spend hours trying to discern which one is mine. Reece erupted into short victorious laughter, before eyeing the lead worker approaching him. "Sir, we are ready for inspection. I just know that everything will be to your liking."

Reece shook his head at the man, "We shall see." He followed the worker inside. The inside was a definite contrast to the outside. After stepping through the doorway, Reece was indeed amazing at the difference—despite that he had ordered every detailed change and had the blueprints.

He entered the vast space with his eyes settling on the enclosed room at the opposite end. He knew the space would be occupied by pre-arranged delivery trucks, but at the moment they weren't available. They were, however, en-route to this location, and would arrive the day before his plan was activated. "I want to see the room now." Reece purposely walked directly to it.

"Of course, Sir." The worker signaled his men to cease construction. This would be the first time that any of the workers met their boss. And with the amount that they were being paid for this job, it was a unanimous decision to not displease him.

Silently Reece tested the doors locking mechanism. It worked perfectly. "And no one to get in or out unless I desire." Reece entered the room, built to be a bedroom. The bed was on the opposite wall from the door and there was a feminine vanity table and chair to the left of the door on the same wall as the door. All four cream colored walls were decorated only with shelves of various lengths—built to hold numerous candles that would be the only light for the room. The candles had yet to arrive, as the some of the trucks being delivered to the warehouse held boxes of them. No other furniture was needed and would only clutter the room.

Reece could now easily imagine the finished product in his mind—and it greatly pleased him. He stepped closer to the bed, quickly turning his head right to notice a sizable stand that held a large tattered tome—simply put, the Ancient Tribe's original book passed down through the generations. A smile played on his lips, the book added the finishing touch to the room. Having it here was a last minute decision for him. The last time Angel had seen it was when she was a child. When the night is over, she will want the book in her possession. Yet by all rights, the book is already hers.

He trailed his eyes back to the bed. Reece reached down and fingered the royal purple bed sheets. In the center of the bed sat two small baskets filled to the brim with scented red rose petals.

"Is it satisfactory, Sir?" The worker interrupted Reece's reverie.

Reece angrily turned to the worker, snapping at him for the intrusion, "Yes." Reece turned to leave, "Just make sure the candles and trucks are in place before the big night."

"Yes, Sir." The worker nodded hastily, watching as Reece exited the warehouse.

As Reece climbed back into his ride, his phone rang. "This better be important!" This was his usual cold greeting with intent to always throw the caller directly into the reason for calling.

"There was a cancellation for today's filming and everyone was released just for today." The voice of his taller minion rang in his ear.

"Cancellation?" He echoed only in extreme anger. "What the bloody hell for?"

"Someone had called in on Angel's behalf and said that she was otherwise unavailable for today."

The news of something wrong with Angel shook him to the core. "Very well, return and resume your other usual duties." He managed to be calm into the phone and quickly hung up. Reece slid down in his seat, unable to resist the worry that overcame him. He wondered what had happened to her. If those blasted priests have hurt her, I'll make them pay. Quickly he tapped onto the window between him and the driver, "Alfred, change of plans. Take me to her." Alfred nodded, knowing that 'her' was Angel.

"Angel?" Erik had pulled back to notice her eyes drooping.

"No worries, my love." She eased him in a tired fashion. "I'm just…"

Erik followed her gaze to his violin perched carefully on the floor against the wall by his desk. "Perhaps you seek me to play you a soothing piece?"

Angel nodded, allowing him to help her to lie down on the bed. "Something soft…to fill my dreams." Her eyes followed him as he strode to the instrument before returning to her side.

"An aria then…to guide you into a soft slumber." He raised the violin to his chin and the sweetest of sounds spilt forth into the room. With her eyes half open, she became mesmerized by his fingers that seemingly floated over the strings—much like how they'd done countless times before over her flesh.

As he played, he let his wide eyes wander her body—a body that she willingly gave to him time and time again. How such wondrous thoughts could lead to dark ones, he couldn't tell you. But they did. And soon he found his mind in the midst of the times she unwillingly gave herself to HIM. Soon both Erik's mind and body was on autopilot. He continued to play the aria for his love, while his thoughts led him further into unwanted territories.

He thought again of the pull that Reece had over her. Erik recalled the sight he witnessed earlier that morning in the backyard. From his position, he could only view the backside of her. He could only watch in horror as he noticed her breathing changed by the way her shoulders shook. To him, it was slow motion as she cried out unabashedly for another before falling to her knees. Normally, he would've been at her side in an instant to avoid her hurting herself in the fall, but his legs wouldn't obey. He couldn't turn away as she pulled Andrew closer to her.

Angel languidly drifted her eyes about him. Even in her half-sleep, she could tell by how his eyes were set that he was in the throes of thought about HIM. She was amazed that he could play something so wonderfully, yet focus his thoughts on something so monstrous. Before she realized, her hand meekly reached out to him, brushing her fingertips on the cool mask. His playing didn't stop, but he breathed in deeply.

As she ran her fingers through his black hair, the sparkle from her ring caught her eye. Angel pulled her hand back closer to her and stared deeply at her finger. She didn't deserve this man. That much she knew. But then, she realized that rejecting him would surely kill them both. Angel let her head fall back onto the pillow. No more thoughts about this for now. I just want to sleep with the music of my love surrounding me. Angel let the sleep consume her.

Erik had felt her fingers touch him twice. Just as he was about to toss the violin aside and dive into her, a quick glance at her revealed that she was much too worn from the earlier outburst to engage in such a thing. So instead, he settled on deepening the music until she fell completely asleep. He played a bit longer; just to be sure she wouldn't awaken in protest if he stopped.

"Rest now, my Angel." He spoke in such softness and placed a kiss to her eyelids. Gently he set the instrument at its place beside his desk and left the room as if he were never there.

To Be Continued...