Chapter 21
We had driven past the last of the mail boxes to drop the remaining letters off. Gabriel wanted to put a few letters into at least three different mail boxes so if things did go badly, it would be harder for the guard to round up all the letters I had written. They could still smell out maybe one or two of the mail boxes, but it would be difficult to get to all of them before tomorrow, especially given the sun.
Gabriel had to sit in the back for now because it was sunny. Actually, it was gorgeous. The weather was warm with a slight breeze and the humidity was really low. It was a perfect day by most humans estimations…just not mine right now.
Of course, most other humans didn't have to put up with a grumbling blood-sucking back seat driver either. After coming to an abrupt stop at the second mail box, Gabriel voiced his opinion of my driving skills in Italian. I wasn't sure what he said but I glared at him and mumbled about flame throwers.
Now, as I started to drive off after this last one, Gabriel became even more vocal. I think he said something about not allowing women to drive in Italian so I decided to get back at him. "Lamia stultae non agitat," I grumbled back. I glared at him via the rear view mirror…and looked at it to see his reaction. I was not disappointed. Latin, the language of the world prior to the 17th century.
I tried hard to keep my eyes on the road and not laugh too much as I watched Gabriel's face go from agitated to one of shock. He looked at the back of my head, his amber eyes registering only surprise. "…you…know Latin?" he asked.
I nodded once, driving to a nearby park so we could have some privacy, shade, and Gabriel could get out of the car without causing much of a spectacle of himself. "My bachelor's is in Classical Studies," I told him. "Ya know, Latin and Greek?"
Gabriel was very quiet the rest of the way to Great Falls. It was the only place I could think of that had a lot of shade and would be relatively quite enough for us to call the Volturi. I just prayed Aro would listen.
As I got out, I was worried I had insulted Gabriel a bit too much. Given the problem earlier in Staples and now calling him bloody stupid vampire in Latin probably hadn't exactly endeared myself to him…no matter what he was saying back in Italian. Thinking of how to apologize, I suddenly saw a gloved hand in front of me as I turned to get out of the truck. Looking up at the attached person to that hand, I saw Gabriel smiling.
"What is this place, cucciola mia?" he asked gently as he helped me out of the truck. Not that I needed it.
I suddenly found myself toe to toe with him again. I wasn't sure what to do. I tried to avoid his eyes but found Gabriel gently tipping my chin back up to look at him. His amber eyes bore back into my hazel ones. I knew he was dazzling me for some reason but I didn't really care. "Great Falls," I more asked than stated.
His hand still beneath my chin, Gabriel looked around at our surroundings quickly and then back to me. "It's lovely, cara mia, but why did you wish to come here?" he asked me gently. I felt one of his gloved hands grasp by own ungloved one as he moved to lead us towards the C & O canal trail.
"It's the only place I could think of that was private, shady, and wouldn't have a lot of people around in case the guard found us and wasn't willing to negotiate," I told him truthfully, looking down as we walked. I wanted to head north along the trail, away from the falls and, thereby, away from most people. Not that there were many. It was still early-ish for Easter Sunday. It would probably be another hour or two before the Easter bonnets and wing-tipped shoes bothered to show up.
Gabriel stopped us and swung around to look me in the eyes again. When I looked up at him, I saw only anger and determination. I wasn't sure if they were directed at me or not but I was thankful that there were enough people around that he really couldn't do much even if he wanted to. Killing twenty or some-odd people at Great Falls would get national attention quickly.
