Out of the Darkness

169

I reached out to her, not sure if I would be able to touch her or not. I sighed when my fingertips pressed against the fabric of her jean jacket. I pulled her to me, holding her gaze, as she lifted her face to mine. I pressed my lips to hers, gently, enjoying the feel of her skin against my own. She melted against me, and brought her arms around my neck, locking them there. I let my hands travel to her waist, and pulled her closer against me, between my legs, letting my fingers press into her hips. "GOOD MORNING!!" I jumped, yet again, and pulled away from Anna. Sam stood at the entry to the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear. "Asshole," I said, glaring at him. He laughed and shrugged. "Just repaying the favor for waking me up, brother." He walked over and sat down next to me. "So, what are we doing?" he asked. "Ugh," I replied, glancing from him to Anna. I didn't know what to say. I saw the hurt flash in her eyes, when she realized that I didn't want to say whatever it was in front of her. She pressed her lips together and nodded. "I'm gonna go and let you guys talk. Is Kat up? Maybe I can go see her?" "Yeah, sure. She's up in my room. I'm sure she would love the company," Sam said, smiling at her. I looked at her, apologetically. She gave me a small smile, and leaned over to kiss me again. "I'll see you later," she replied, then she blinked out of sight. "What was that about?" Sam asked. "We can't talk about plans in front of her, remember? I don't think she's fully in control of herself, Sam. There are times when I'm not even sure that it's her I'm talking too." I sighed and started picking at the label on my water bottle. Sam raised his eyebrows. "Really? I mean, I knew that Lilith was probably spying on her, or on us, but I didn't realize... why do you think that?" I shrugged. "There are just certain moments where she starts acting weird. First, she was all about not wanting me to quote "waste my life on someone that I could never be with" to wanting me to be with her 'on the other side,' whatever that means." "That's ... strange," he replied. "Yeah," I answered. "So, anyway, I remembered something this morning. When I was helping Anna research herself, trying to find out who she was, she recognized someone in one of the pictures." Sam's eyes widened. "Really? And you're just now bringing this up?!" "I forgot!" I exclaimed. "You know, kinda busy trying to survive demon attacks and killer dream worlds. Must've just slipped my mind." Sam rolled his eyes. "Does she remember who she is? Is there a way to find out?" "Yeah, I already did that. Anna doesn't remember who she is, but said that she looked familiar. I'm guessing that she was probably around Anna's age, when Anna disappeared. Here, let me find it." I picked up my phone and pulled up my search history again. I went back to the same article to show him the picture. "Right here. This woman. Her name is Christine Summers. She works at City Hall. Actually," I stole a glance at the time. 9:05. "I should call her and see if we can meet her." I fished out the scrap of paper that I had written the number on and dialed it. I wasn't sure why I had written it down, instead of putting it in my phone...really weird thing to do, now that I thought about it. Maybe Anna was rubbing off on me. I shook my head slightly, and waited for someone to pick up the phone. "Good morning, Los Angeles City Hall, Head Historical Society Curator's office, Ms. Christine Summers. This is Diane, her receptionist, speaking. How may I help you?" Imagine having to say all of that every time you answered the phone. Geez. "Yes ma'am," I spoke smoothly into the phone. "I'd like to make an appointment with Ms. Summers. There's a building on, um, Sunset Blvd that I believe would be an excellent addition to the Historical Society." "Yes sir, I can help with that. Just a moment," she answered. I heard a lot of nails click clacking against a keyboard, then her bubbly voice came through. "I can get you in to see her tomorrow at 11 am. Will that work for you?" "Ugh," I scrambled for some explanation why that did not, in fact, work for me. "No ma'am. I was hoping that I could get in to see her today. You see, I'll be flying out tonight on business. I won't be back for another month. There are demolition orders for this intricately designed building, and I would hate to see such an amazing structure destroyed when I come back home." I caught Sam looking at me like I had grown two heads. "Who are you?" he mouth. I shrugged and covered the phone. "I don't know what the fuck I'm even saying," I whispered. "Cole Brock, Historical Architecture genious. Who knew?" "Shut up," I hissed, before hearing the receptionist, Diane, start speaking again. "I'm not so sure that I can get you in today, sir. If you'd like to leave the address with me, then I can make sure that Ms. Summers looks into it today. Will that work?" I almost groaned out loud. Just let me fucking talk to her then! This is was just exasperating. "No ma'am. There is some private information that she needs to be made aware of. Can I maybe just speak to her instead?" "Right now?" the lady asked, breaking out of her professional persona for a moment. I almost laughed. "Yes. Right now, if that's possible." "Um, hold just a moment, while I check." I waited, holding my breath and praying that Christine would take my call, if nothing else. After a few minutes, Diane came back on the line. "Yes sir, I'm transferring you know." "Thank you," I replied, then heard the tinny sound of the ringing that only a three way connection would give. "Ms. Summers, I'm connecting you with Mr...oh, I forgot to get his name. I'm so sorry!" I laughed gently. "It's okay. I'm sure you don't get requests like mine every day. My name is Cole Brock." "Thank you, Diane, that'll be all," I heard a new voice speak up. "Yes, so sorry, Ms. Summers."