Without waiting for either of us to answer, he busied himself with trying to find clean gla.s.ses to pour the champagne in.

A knock interrupted us at the door. Tucker cursed and opened it and cursed again. "Yes, Ethan. What do you need?" he snapped.

"I need Grace and Lea," he said. He looked at the bottle of champagne Tucker was holding and threw his hands up in the air. "Hey, lover boy. They were just in a house fire, so why are you trying to give them champagne? Look at them, they need a shower and a good night's sleep!" he yelled as he ushered us out and down the hallway.

Ethan walked us to the next apartment. "Don't mind Tucker. He's usually not such a jerk when it comes to women, but Grace, you seem to bring the idiot out in him. Are you guys okay? That must have been terrifying."

"What? Being in the fire or the thought of having to sleep over at Tucker's? Because both seem like a nightmare to me," I whispered.

Ethan paused as he pushed his key in to unlock his door. He turned, hugged me tight and patted Lea on the shoulders. "Conner and Shane are coming back and you'll be safe here. You both need a nice hot shower and sleep."

Their apartment was the exact opposite of the one we were just in. It was impeccably clean, with lovely soft leather furniture, and actual artwork framed on the walls, all with a musical theme. There was not one naked schoolgirl poster to be seen.

I walked in and cracked up laughing. "No way. You, Conner, and Shane live here? This place is..."

"Surprising?" Ethan offered.

"Grown up?" Lea giggled.

"Um, yeah, both." I answered.

Ethan nodded, "It's the reason we live together. The three of us are neat freaks and I think Shane is a closet interior decorator, because he put this place together. Come on and I'll give you the grand tour, Grace."

Lea walked herself into Conner's room and closed the door behind her as Ethan led me around. He left the bedroom doors closed though, and only pointed to each one saying the names of the owners. My stomach lurched when he named the Bone Room and a surge of jealousy crashed through me at the thought of how many girls Shane had been in there with. Jealous? Am I admitting this to myself now?

Ethan noticed my apprehension to the Bone Room and placed his arms around my shoulders. "Don't worry; you can sleep anywhere you want if you feel weird about being in there." He handed me a towel from a closet in the hall. "But, you do have to take a shower right now, because you smell like h.e.l.l." With that, he shoved me in the bathroom. "Use whatever soap stuff you like," he said as he closed the door.

I looked around the small bathroom. It was clean, I mean really clean. The toilet paper roll was even on its little roller on the wall and not just sitting on the sink because no one could insert it.

I opened the shower curtain, turned on the water, and stuck my hand under the stream to gage the right temperature. Ah, scalding! That's the perfect temperature.

I peeled out of my smoke scorched clothes and stepped under the jets, letting the water wash away the evidence of my almost death by fire incident. I used some sort of herbal flowery smelling soap and scrubbed the black ashes off my body.

Inhaling the warm steam made my already burning throat worse, but it made me focus on what I really needed to think through. Why would someone be trying to hurt me? Someone like Azazel? Was it just jealously? He didn't want Shamsiel to be with me because he couldn't be with whomever he was with? Or was it more? After all these years, how did he find me? Was he roaming the earth? I thought they were all sent somewhere...Was he like me and could only possess a dying body?

The door to the bathroom opened, putting a halt to the inner dialogue I was having. "That better be Lea," I snapped.

I heard Shane's raspy low chuckle, "No, sorry. Just me. But, if you want me to get Lea to come into the shower, that's a really entertaining thought."

"Shane, get out of here!"

"Relax, Grace, I'm not going to jump in with you. I just came in to give you some of my clothes to wear. Unless you want to traipse through the apartment with just a towel on in search of clothes, because that's just...Hey, you know you are absolutely right, that's a much better idea than me giving you something to wear...I mean, I clearly remember the first time I saw that at your place. That image is definitely burned into my skull. I wonder if it would have the same effect on everyone else here."

"Okay!" I yelped, poking my head out through the shower curtain. "Thank you! Please just leave the clothes and go!"

Shane stood leaning against the sink with his arms folded. The expression on his face didn't match his teasing; he looked worried and exhausted. "Are you okay, Gray?" His using Lea's nickname for me made my belly do a flip-flop. What am I, twelve again?

I stuck my face back in the shower and reluctantly turned off the water. There were a lot more tears that needed to be washed away. I held my hand out to him, "May I have the towel, please?"

He placed the towel in my hands and I dried myself behind the curtain. I wrapped the damp towel around myself and stepped onto the cold tile floor. "You're still in here."

"Yeah. I'm having trouble moving," he whispered.

"Did you get hurt before?"

"No," he murmured. He took the shirt he had brought in for me and smoothly pulled it over my damp hair. I lifted one arm at a time into the sleeves, strategically keeping the towel wrapped around my body. When the shirt fell to my knees, covering me fully, I let the towel drop. "Well, that's something I've never done before," he sighed.

I tried to smile, but I was beyond exhausted at this point, "I guess you do mostly the undressing of women, huh?"

Shane reached out his hands toward my face. I really should stop him; he really shouldn't touch me. But man, do I want him too!

He laid his hands against my cheeks and gently wiped the moist skin below my eyes, as if wiping away my tears. "You were crying," he murmured, as his thumbs trailed softly along my skin.

"Well, I was just in a fire that Tucker says someone purposefully set, so yeah, I've been crying."

His hands stilled on my face, "Tucker said that, huh? That a.s.s couldn't just give you one night of rest?" He glared at me, "I swear, Grace, I will not let anything happen to you here, and tomorrow we'll all go up to Tucker's place and get away from Carl Sumpton and his sick twisted games. No one will know where we are."

So, everyone still thought this was Carl Sumpton trying to kill me, just some sick delusional guy that's been stalking me for the last six months. I wished it were so simple. I felt myself shudder and Shane's expression softened.

He drew me into him, slid his hands around my back, and held me close. Every point of his body that touched me sent shivers down my spine. The shivers became much worse when my hands, all on their own accord, slid up the length of his arms and gripped his shoulders. Far worse was the thought that there was only a thin layer of material covering me and it was riding up as I lifted my arms, and I didn't even have underwear on!

As if he had read my thoughts, Shane leaned back, reached for something, and shoved it into my hands. "Here, I can't stand here with you like this, so wear a pair of my boxers, please."

Without taking my eyes off him, I slid the boxers up my legs. Ripples of heat surged through me as his jaw clenched tighter and his eyes dilated into huge pools of blackness. My G.o.d, did I want to dive in.

We just stood there, face-to-face, eye-to-eye until I felt the room start spinning.

"I'm really tired, Shane. In fact, right now I kind of feel like I'm going to pa.s.s out." I leaned my hand on the sink to help myself stay upright. Before I was even aware of what was happening, Shane picked me up and cradled me in his arms. My eyelids were so heavy that I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck, slumped my head on his shoulder, and closed my eyes.

I felt him open the bathroom door and the cold air from the hallway sent goose b.u.mps up my arms; I could have sworn he held me tighter. I heard Ethan's voice mumbling near us.

"She just conked out in my arms," Shane said.

"Yeah, Lea just pa.s.sed out on Conner in the living room. He had to carry her into bed. Where are you going put her to sleep?"

Shane was moving through the hallway with me, the motion rocked me gently. "Open the door to my room," Shane said.

"Shane, that's not the best idea. She's going to wake up p.i.s.sed at you."

"I'll sleep in another room. I'm not putting her in the Bone Room, Ethan."

I opened my eyes as Ethan flicked the light on in Shane's room and I lifted my head off his shoulder.

Ethan smiled at me sweetly, "Hey, Grace, can I get you anything?"

"No, Ethan, thank you. I'm just wiped out. I don't care where I sleep, I just need to sleep." I looked around the room quickly. A beautiful dark cherry wood bed took up my view, and my guitar case was leaned up against it. I turned my face into Shane's, "You saved my guitar?"

Pulling back the covers of his bed, Shane delicately laid me down and sat beside me. His bed was soft and smelled like freshly washed linen; I closed my eyes.

"Get some sleep, Grace. We'll be right outside if you need anything," Shane whispered.

I reached my arm out and tugged his arm toward me. I can't even say why I did it. I was tired, scared, and angry, and it was the only thing that felt right. "Don't leave, Shane," I whispered back.

Shane squeezed my hand softly and moved off the bed. I opened my eyes to see Ethan close the door and Shane stroll across the room to his dresser. He pulled off his shirt and jeans and threw them into a large wicker basket in the corner. I watched the tattoos move against his muscles as he looked through his drawers wearing only a pair of boxers. He pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and nothing else.

He switched off the light and crawled under the covers right beside me. He ran a single finger along my arm from my shoulder to my elbow. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I just didn't want to be alone. I'm sorry," I whispered.

He pulled me closer to him and my body fit into his perfectly, "Don't be sorry. I get to hold a beautiful woman in my arms all night, so I'm definitely making out on the deal."

"Thank you," I said.

I could feel his raspy chuckle against the back of my neck, "For what, saying you're beautiful? Like you don't hear that from every freaking guy that looks at you."

"No, not that. For saving my life tonight. You could have gotten killed, Shane. Don't do anything like that for me again."

He softly placed his lips on the nape of my neck, just below my ear, and kissed me. "Shut up and go to sleep, Grace."

Chapter 13.

The very first thing I was aware of when I awoke was Shane's body against mine. His hands were snuggled around my stomach and his face was buried in my hair. His breath came out in smooth even puffs along my shoulder.

I nudged him and tried to escape from his grasp, but he only smiled and held me tighter. I tried to roll over and fling my legs onto the floor, but that only got him to roll on top of me and start a full-fledged wrestling match. I finally pinned him down and freed myself from him and the bed, only to have him tackle me to the floor; both of us laughing.

There was a knock at the door and both of us bolted off the floor as if we were just caught by our parents, which only made us laugh even more.

Ethan came in holding a steaming cup of coffee, "Hey, I got coffee and bagels inside!" His eyes looked back and forth between Shane and me, his face reddened and he looked down at the floor. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

It was my turn for the heat to rise to my face. "Ethan, you didn't interrupt anything. We were just wrestling to get to the door first. There is absolutely nothing going on between Shane and me."

Ethan shrugged and nodded his head. "Well, breakfast is inside anyway. Everybody is packing up now, so we should be heading out soon." He didn't even wait for another response. He just turned his back to us and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I felt Shane's glare as if it was a burning laser on the back of my head. I turned to face him. "What's that look for?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I just damaged his ego.

"Why do you do s.h.i.t like that?" He was pointing to the door.

"Like what?"

"Pretend that you don't give a s.h.i.t about me. You're the one that asked me to sleep in here last night. I get a lot of mixed signals from you, Grace."

It killed me that he was right. Shane wasn't one to beat around the bush, he said things straight. I needed to tell him something to make sure his attention would go on to the next girl and I wouldn't feel so tempted by him. I wrapped my arms around myself, because telling him just a small part of my truth made me feel like my insides would burst and I'd be nothing more than dust. "Look, I was with someone for a long time. We had to go our separate ways, but I'm still in love with him. I don't...want anybody else. So...this is weird for me. I'm sorry, if I'm giving you any signals. I really don't want to be with anyone but him."

Shane's expression didn't change.

"Ever. Especially with anyone who would think I was only worth one night of their existence," I whispered. I looked down humiliated. I could feel the blush on my face heat my cheeks and spread down my neck. I wasn't special, was I? Maybe Azazel was right, maybe he wouldn't want me anymore. I looked back up to Shane; his lips were turned down and his eyebrows pulled together as if I had hurt him. Like I could ever hurt someone like Shane. I needed to get away from this life. It confused me and bothered me and all I wanted to do was to crawl back into bed with this man and pretend that I was really Grace. Grace would probably hate herself in the morning when she left the Bone Room, but I bet he would have made her feel loved for a few hours.

I walked out of Shane's room and exhaled. I walked into the bathroom and ran the cold water over my hands until I was numb. I shouldn't care what Shane thinks or what Shane feels, but that was the problem; I did. This life was too confusing and I was losing sight of what I set out to do, and Azazel was trying to kill me.

Lea's m.u.f.fled calls through the door snapped me out of my thoughts. She knocked once and came in. "How did I know you'd be doing this?" Grabbing my hands from under the icy stream, she wrapped a towel around them and held them to her chest. "Is this really the only way you can let off steam? Or whatever it is you're trying to do?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I called my boss and told her everything that happened last night and she gave me the next two weeks off, can you believe that? I hope it doesn't take two weeks to find that lunatic. I'm so freaking scared."

"I think maybe I shouldn't go with you guys today. Maybe I should go someplace else and..."

"Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear about want you want," she snapped. "There is somebody out there who has tried to kill you. Twice! I know you think you have some sort of in with whatever supreme beings there are out there, but this is the real world and I don't want to hear any of your bulls.h.i.t! You can't go off the deep end with me here. Don't do stupid things because Jacob and your parents are gone and now you think you're alone. I'm still here, Grace! You promised me that you'd never do anything to hurt yourself again, you promised me!"

I did. I did promise when we were sixteen and she found me after I tried to end my life. She not only found me, but she also saved me. She had said she dreamt about a beautiful angel with giant golden wings that told her where to find me. I couldn't doubt her dream, and I couldn't doubt it was an angel, because that would have been the only way anyone would have known how or where to find me.

I had left early for school that snowy morning, before Lea had even woken up. I had been involved in an early morning music program, so she should have never doubted me being there. Instead of taking the bus to school, I hopped on the train and got off in a remote area that was surrounded by the Jamaica Bay wildlife refuge. I walked at least two miles into the thick forest. There was about three to four inches of snow covering the ground. I brushed my footprints over with a large pine needle branch that I yanked off a tree. Leaning up against a cold tree, I took a razor to my wrists; no tears, no regrets. I didn't want Grace Taylor's life; the life of a teenage girl who had just lost her parents, and needed to learn to walk again after her body was mangled in a car wreck. No more damage was evident on the outside of her body, but the inside was messed up and I didn't want to be in there any longer. I couldn't be inside the body of a teenager; all the heartache, all the need and hunger was constant. The worst part was her memories, so vivid and so real, I hated the fact that Grace was gone and I was there. She would have been something amazing one day. Instead, I was there, searching for someone.

I knew that Grace's soul was gone, I knew, as always, that day when I got shoved in her body that there was no way I could save her, but I tried. For the first time, I tried to fight the pull of my spirit. I wanted her to live. My G.o.d, she was only fourteen years old. Her parents were driving her to buy a dress for her very first dance. She even had a date with the cutest boy in school, Lucas Fraser.

I fought against her body, but it consumed me; devoured me. I fought while her body laid in a coma in a hospital bed for a little over six months. It was then that Gabriel had come to me, the first time in lifetimes. I had thought I was forgotten, but he held my soul in his arms until I woke up as Grace, calming my spirit.

Gabriel had told Lea where to find me that day. He woke her up five minutes after I had left, so I wouldn't have too much time alone. She followed his instructions exactly, bringing along a first aid kit complete with Steri-strips and surgical dressings.

Lea stared those terrified brown eyes at me in the bathroom, repeating her mantra, "You promised me."

"I know I did, and I'm not doing anything to put myself in Carl Sumpton's path. I don't even know who he is, but I'm sort of thinking that he's really not Carl Sumpton. Like maybe he's something...else."

Her eyes widened and she immediately started to hyperventilate. "What?" she panted, grabbing at my shoulders.

"Come on, Lea. Carl Sumpton was dying in a hospital last week, and now he's running around trying to kill me?" I didn't want to scare her with the story of my little talk with the dying body of Carl Sumpton. Lea was too good, too innocent to be involved in this. "I just think that there's something else going on and I don't want you and Conner involved. I just want to get you guys far away from me and whatever or whoever is after me."

"No. No, no, no," she was shaking her head so hard I thought she might snap it right off. "You are coming with us and Conner, Shane, Ethan and even Tucker. They are going to protect us." Grasping my shoulders tighter, she pleaded, "Promise me."

Hesitating for only a second, I sighed heavily, "Sure, I promise."

Her shoulders relaxed and she exhaled long and slow. Grabbing me in her arms, she hugged me tight. "Gabriel would never let anything happen to you. He always gets someone to save your sorry b.u.t.t anyway."

I wondered where her strong faith had come from. "Why do you think that?"

She stepped back and gave me a curious look. "Every time you come close to kicking the bucket, someone is always there. Me, Shane. I wonder if Shane had a dream about the fire. We were all asleep; he was on the couch, so how could he have known?"

I stepped away from her and opened the bathroom door. Turning back, I looked at her from the doorway. "What you don't seem to understand is that I will go on, and I don't want you guys to get hurt. This is your life, Lea. Mine was over centuries ago, but you have the future, things to hope for and look forward to. I'm just here for one thing. I don't want anything to happen to you or Conner, even Shane or Tucker, because you're all trying to save me." I walked into the hallway.

"But you did promise me, so you're coming with us," she called from the bathroom.

The living room had a mountain of duffel bags piled on the middle of the floor. Hushed voices were coming out of the kitchen, along with the sounds of plates. .h.i.tting against each other; everyone was eating.

I lingered a bit in the hallway before entering the kitchen. I hated that everyone thought they needed to save me when it wasn't their problem, or their fight. The truth was that I needed to find Azazel; I needed to figure out why he wanted me gone. I needed to find Gabriel and see if he could tell me anything, and I could do neither with everyone around me trying to watch out for mad men.

"Hey, there she is! Good afternoon, Beautiful! It's about time you got up!" Tucker sang. He was sitting at our small kitchen table shoving a bagel in his mouth. Ethan and Conner sat around the table doing the same thing. Shane sat quietly on the countertop and didn't even lift his head when I walked in. Another guy leaned against the counter closest to me, holding a bagel and coffee in his hands, I didn't even look up at him, I guessed it was Tucker's cousin Blake. Lea walked in behind me.