Fallen

Chapter 26

Eliza

Gavin had left Toby and I alone once again without giving us any clue of where he was going or when he'd be back. I was beginning to expect that from him, which told me I'd been in one place far too long with the same people. Nobody had been more surprised than me when I'd agreed to stay and fight with this batch of idiots, believe me. It had been something instinctive, something deep within me that had leaped out and volunteered before I could put it in check. Sure, I could back out, but that same instinct wasn't about to let me off so easily.

Toby had gotten caught up in police business after a while, so I'd been stuck standing around, bored, with nothing going on. I decided my time would be better spent walking back to the church. Maybe with some more training, I could get more than one mega-shot from out of my power before I became as helpless as a drunken prom date. How Gavin was talking, I was going to need a bucket full. I had Toby give me directions and set out down the sidewalk. The sun was lowering in the sky. We now had only a little longer than five hours before all hell broke loose in the city. Wonderful.

The street was abnormally empty for a city so large, which struck me as a little odd. Add to that the cold gust of wind that was beginning to bite at my fingers, and you had a scene that was setting off every alarm that I had in my brain. That was before the long, white limo began driving up beside me from out of nowhere. It pulled right up next to me, the doors opened and two men in white suits, weird, stepped out and halted me in my tracks. I could see the telltale signs of firearms in their clothing. Wonderful, just wonderful.

"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to hide as much of my fear as I could. I could tell by the tremor in my voice I had failed miserably. Neither of the human skyscrapers spoke. They merely directed me to the open door and pushed me inside. The door slammed shut. I heard other doors open and close and the limo began to move. Other than me, only one person was in my section of the car, and he was dressed head to toe in black, as if in some weird irony. The only thing I could see was a head of spiky white hair, a scarred forehead, and a startling pair of blue eyes staring right at me.

"Hello, Eliza," he said past the scarf that covered the lower half of his face. His voice was somehow oddly familiar and completely alien at the same time. I knew right off the bat that he wasn't human. The air around him was practically electrified. Or maybe that was just the dense cloud of scents that was starting to crawl down my throat and choke me. Whatever it was, it was inhuman. "How are you?"

"I was fine until I got picked up by things one and two," I replied, looking at closed viewing window. The man chuckled good-naturedly

"I apologize for my associates," he said apologetically, casting a glare than caused an audible wince from whoever was on the other side of the wall. Yikes, a look from this guy could hurt people? That was more than scary. It was absolutely terrifying. "They have yet to learn their manners when dealing with a lady such as yourself."

"Well, I don't know if I would call myself a lady, but you've got the manners thing right," I replied, trying to speak on equal footing as my captor. I guess that would be the word for the mystery man. "So, can I ask why you decided to pretty much abduct me when I was walking along minding my own business?"

"Abduct? No, no," the man said, shaking his head with a gleam of amusement in his blue eyes. "I merely wished a private meeting with you. This, regrettably, was the only means by which that could occur."

"You might have tried calling," I said under my breath, which only caused the man to raise an eyebrow.

"Call a woman who has no phone? Or any means of contact with anyone in the world for that matter? Now, that would be an interesting trick," he said knowingly. I was instantly on guard. How had he known that? My thoughts must have caused some reaction on my face, because the man added, "I do not wish to alarm you, Eliza. Only to enlighten."