"We were going to get married," said Molly forlornly once we were back in Gabriel's car.

"That wasn't about love," said Gabriel. "It's always been about power."

"I sure know how to choose guys. What is wrong with me?"

"Everyone makes bad decisions sometimes," Gabriel replied.

It was strange the way he included himself in the observation. The old Gabriel might have commented that to err was the nature of humans, but this time it seemed he was right there with us, rather than watching from afar.

"Really?" Molly wiped her nose with a tissue Xavier had handed her. "So you're not all judging me?"

"No, that was Wade," Xavier replied. "Not us."

She sniffed and stared out the car window. "I just feel like such a failure at everything."

"You're not," Gabriel replied from the driver's seat. "You're just young and confused. It's normal."

"How long did it take you to get so wise?"

My brother looked at her through the rearview mirror. "Give or take two thousand years."

Even through her tears, Molly had to smile. "One day you'll find your place in the world," Gabriel said. "And all this will be nothing but a distant memory."

I couldn't help but wonder if he included himself in that statement. Years from now would he too be nothing but a fading image in Molly's mind? All I knew was that my brother wasn't easy to forget and I could tell from the look on her face that Molly knew it too.

26.

Take Me Home MOLLY was still rattled from the scene in the chapel, and even Gabriel's reassuring presence couldn't stop her from shivering.

"It's okay, Molly," Gabriel leaned in to whisper. "It's over. Wade won't hurt you anymore."

"Molly should probably stay with us for a while," I suggested. "Just until things settle down."

"Good idea," Gabriel agreed. "I don't like the idea of her being alone right now."

"Thanks," Molly said in a small, plaintive voice. "I'm sorry I've been so stupid about everything."

"It's not your fault," Xavier said. "We all misjudge people sometimes."

"I've messed up worse than you," I added. "I once thought Jake Thorn just needed a friend."

Xavier wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulder, as if he would have liked to erase those bad memories from my past.

EVEN before we pulled up outside the house, we knew something was wrong. The trash can lay on the sidewalk, its contents spilled onto the path like someone had violently kicked it over. Gabriel slowed the car. As we drew up to the house, we saw something even stranger. The front door was wide open and half hanging off its hinges. Xavier's grip on me tightened when we saw the porch strewn with shattered glass from smashed windows.

As we got out of the car, Gabriel scanned the street, his silver eyes taking in everything in a heartbeat. We followed him up the steps and into the house. The sofa had been overturned and all the cabinets ransacked. The majority of Gabe and Ivy's possessions now lay bent and broken on the floor. Spilled wine from an overturned decanter created an abstract stain on the white rug in the front room.

"I don't believe this," Molly cried. "You've been robbed! As if this night could get any worse!" She groped frantically in her pocket for her cell phone. "I'm calling the cops."

"Molly, wait." Gabriel reached out and grasped both her hands to calm her. "This doesn't look like a robbery."

Xavier and I followed my brother's gaze across the living room, where one word had been scrawled across the wall in an angry red marker: WHORE.

"Oh, no," I groaned.

Molly's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears.

"Molly, he's psycho." Xavier tried to sound reassuring. "You can't take this seriously."

"Oh, my God." Her hands started to flap at her sides. "He's going to kill me!"

"Nobody's killing anyone," Xavier said.

"This isn't exactly a surprise," Gabriel said. "We've always known Wade was unstable."

"What do we do now?" Molly cried.

"We get out of here," I replied.

Just then, a door slammed upstairs and a shadowy figure moved across the landing. Wade stood motionless when he saw us-a crowbar in one hand and a demented look in his eyes.

"Yep," Xavier muttered. "I'd say it's definitely time to go."

Molly screamed when Wade came bolting down the stairs toward us. With a flick of his wrist, Gabriel brought down the banister, tripping him up and blocking his path.

"Let's move," my brother instructed, herding us out.

As we ran down the path and leapt into the car, I wondered why Gabriel, a powerful archangel, was running from a human, even if it was a crazy one. Just as he slammed his foot on the accelerator, an even-more worrying thought crossed my mind.

"Wait! Where's Ivy?"

Xavier craned his head back in alarm. "She was in the house when we left!"

"Ivy can take care of herself," Gabe answered. He sounded so certain, I didn't doubt him for a second.

As we veered off the main road, it wasn't long before we left the twinkling lights of Oxford behind. As the dark and endless highway swallowed up the car, the misery of being back on the run hit me full pelt.

"Where to now?" I groaned, not bothering to hide my weariness. "I'm not sure I can do this anymore."

"Yes, you can," Xavier said firmly. "We've done it before and we can do it again."

"Why are we running anyway?" Molly protested, looking more confused than alarmed. "Why can't we just call the police?"

"Wade isn't the only threat in this town," Gabriel said. "Something tells me he didn't do all that damage on his own. Trust me. Right now, it's safer if we just clear out."

"Where to this time?" I asked softly, understanding now the reason behind his decision to run. "Is there anywhere left to go?"

When Gabriel caught my eye through the rearview mirror, it was as if I could read his thoughts.

"Maybe, it's time we headed home," he said.

At that moment, there was nothing that could have lifted my spirits more. Home. It felt so far away, like a distant memory or a place I'd only read about in stories. I knew the battle with the Sevens was far from over, but I had a feeling we could use the advantage of being on our home turf.

I could smell I was home even before the tiny town of Venus Cove came into view. The scent of the sea found its way to us. It flowed in through the open windows, wrapping around us like the arms of an old friend. When we drove through the town, I saw that nothing had changed. It was as sleepy and untroubled as when I'd first seen it. The quaint storefronts and the white courthouse with its columns and clock tower seemed to magically erase the uncertainty of the past few months.

It was late in the evening by the time we pulled onto Main Street, looking for a place to eat. I wanted to go to Sweethearts, but Gabriel said too many people would recognize us there and we needed to lay low for a while. So, we chose a local steakhouse where the waitresses didn't know us. But the patrons still glanced up with curiosity when we walked in. They looked Gabriel and me up and down suspiciously, like they recognized us from somewhere.

"Reckon they're vampires?" I heard one whisper as she wiped down the bar.

"Girl, you have got to stop watching True Blood," her friend said, shaking her head in mock concern.

Molly and Xavier shared a chuckle while Gabriel and I looked on blankly.

Xavier patted my knee. "I'll explain later."

AFTER dinner, I was looking forward to spending the night in my old room at Byron, but Gabriel had other ideas.

"I'm afraid it's too dangerous right now. It's the first place they'd look."

"Who's looking for us?" asked a puzzled Molly.

"I'll tell you everything later," said Gabriel with a stern look.

"Where will we stay then?" I asked.

"We'll check into a hotel. At least until we can work out our next move."

Much as I didn't like it, Gabriel's plan made sense. We really couldn't risk going anywhere near Byron. Besides, what was the point of going back to our old home only to be uprooted again when the next attack hit? I couldn't go through that again; I already felt like I didn't belong anywhere anymore.

Before we headed to the hotel, Xavier and I offered to stop at a drugstore to pick up some toothbrushes and other essentials we'd neglected to bring after leaving in such a hurry. Gabriel and Molly went off on foot to check us into the Fairhaven on the esplanade, and then try and work out what had happened to Ivy. Gabriel didn't seem overly concerned, but I knew he'd feel better once our sister was back with us.

We made the trip to Walgreens short and sweet, hardly even checking what we threw into our basket. When we were done, Xavier surprised me by making a detour and veering back onto Main Street. I guessed what he was thinking as soon as he pulled up outside our old haunt, Sweethearts.

"Feel like taking a trip down memory lane?" he asked. Looking at him, with one hand on the wheel, the other slung lazily behind my headrest, I felt catapulted back to our first date. Nothing had changed. I could see the backdrop of the Mercury Cinema through the car window, so old-fashioned it seemed like a theater set. The boy in front of me hadn't changed, either. He still had the same soft, honey-colored hair that swooped gently across his forehead, he still wore the same cross that sat just in the hollow at the base of his neck, and his eyes were still the same glittering turquoise that seemed to reflect all the colors of the ocean. Only now, there was something different about his eyes. His expression was wiser, perhaps darker than it had been before. He had seen things, and fought for his life and for the lives of those he loved. I wondered if others would see it too.

"Do you think it's a good idea?" I asked cautiously.

"We won't be long."

Sweethearts hadn't changed a bit. But we had. It was strange to see new faces at the tables sharing sodas and fries. So much time had passed since I first came to Venus Cove. The days of Molly and her gang were over. The jukebox still played old-time rock and roll and the waitresses still wore roller skates, but there wasn't a single face in there we recognized. Our school peers had moved on to colleges around the country. We didn't belong here anymore.

"Is it just me or...?" Xavier began.

"Nope." I took his hand. "This is weird. I feel old."

We gravitated toward our old booth, but found it already occupied. We stood uncertainly for a moment before a voice interrupted us.

"Hey, honey, long time!" It was one of the older waitresses, recognizing Xavier. "Always nice when the high school studs come back to visit."

"Hey." Xavier flashed her his best lazy smile. "I've missed this place."

"And it's missed you." She winked playfully at him. "If you're looking for your sister, she's out back." She jerked her thumb toward the exit and waggled her eyebrows meaningfully. Xavier frowned.

"Nikki's here?" He checked his watch. "It's after eleven."

I recognized his sister Nicola's voice as soon as we walked through the cafe's back kitchen and out into the alleyway. It was lilting, high-pitched, and overly confident. We emerged to see a bunch of tenth-graders sitting in the back of a dusty pickup truck parked between the Dumpsters. They were all talking and texting at once. A few of them were swigging from beer cans and passing around cigarettes. The freckled boy at the wheel looked barely old enough to drive, despite the tattoos on his biceps and the toothpick twirling in his mouth.

Xavier folded his arms and scowled at the scene in front of us. "No way," he muttered.

If I'd been expecting an emotional reunion, I couldn't have been more wrong. Nikki froze when she saw her brother and a range of emotions crossed her face-from surprise to relief to sheer rage. She'd changed in the time we'd been gone. She'd lost weight and looked leggier. Her curly hair hung down her back and her bitten nails were painted with black polish. Her skirt was too short and the laces of her Doc Martens were undone. Her sassiness had morphed into real attitude. She eyed Xavier coolly as she sat smoking and swinging her legs over the side of the truck.

Xavier strode calmly up to her without unfolding his arms. They stared at each other for several long moments. I would have crumbled under his intense gaze, but Nikki just took a long, deliberate drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke nonchalantly into his face.

"Look who's back."

Xavier didn't react. I had to hand it to him. He seemed to know instinctively how to deal with his rebellious younger sister. He plucked the cigarette casually from her mouth before she had time to protest, and put it out under the heel of his boot.

"Did you miss me?" he asked with a smirk.

Nikki's expression darkened. "You can't just show up here and pull the big-brother act. Where the hell have you been?"

"Beth and I had some things to take care of."

"Things to take care of? You've been gone six months. Mom's been going crazy."

"I couldn't contact her. I couldn't contact any of you."

"What a load of crap! That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard!"

Xavier sighed as the other kids sniggered, enjoying the show. "Nikki, it's complicated."

She rolled her eyes. "'Course, it is. You're so unbelievably selfish."

"Don't talk about what you don't know," Xavier snapped. "You have no idea where I've been or why I had to leave."

"So explain ... I'm listening," she said with biting sarcasm. Xavier's face fell. It was not going to be possible to offer Nikki any explanation that would have made sense.