Angel Assassins - Book 1 Lineage & Lies

Chapter 9 - Intruder

The night had drawn in quickly. There was a slight chill in the air. The moon was out, but partially hidden by cloud, that had begun to form as the day had drawn to a close. The thunderstorm seemed to have moved off across the hills. Gabriel stood on his balcony, his eyes scanning the darkened horizon. 

He drew his collar up around his neck and continued his vigil. He had spoken to Brett and all seemed quiet, but he had that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong.

'I have got to find some way of getting Jake out of here unnoticed' he thought to himself. 'If we stay we could be putting a lot of people in danger!'

He let his thoughts drift as he worried about Sara, he knew that she could handle herself, but there was always that doubt that despite all that natural ability and the training, there may be a day that she would come up against something, that even he would struggle to vanquish.

'And lately that has been more and more likely' he said out loud to himself.

He had, at first found it a strange feeling worrying about someone other than himself, after all he had spent eternity past without knowing what worrying was, but he had come to accept it and despite the occasional thought that it somehow shouldn't affect him, he found he couldn't help those feelings when he thought about the people he loved. He took one last look tracing the estate perimeter wall and returned to his room, closing and locking the French doors behind him.

He removed his coat and his gun belt and placed them over one of the dining chairs. The room was tastefully decorated and open plan. Two huge sofas were the centre piece of the lounge area. The original beams of the barn were exposed and drew your eye up to a circular window at the top of the pitched roof. Like the one in the main house, on a clear night it gave you a great view of the stars. 

Warm light emanated from the table lamps around the room. Gabriel walked through the arch way to the kitchen area. It was lined with oak cupboards with marble work tops, stainless steel appliances, merged the modern with the homely feel of the room. He pushed some fruit around the bowl that was on top of the centred cooking and preparation island and decided against it. It had probably been there for a week or two now.

'I really should get some fresh food in', he said, talking to himself.

He opened the fridge, picked one of the bottles of water and took a long drink from it. He placed the bottle back in the fridge and returned to the lounge area. He drew the lush drapes across the windows and dropped into the soft leather sofa, which despite his size, seemed to engulf his frame.

He woke with a start, realising that he had nodded off, He rubbed his eyes and stared at the clock, it was 2 am.

'I should really go to bed'.

He heaved himself up and walked towards the bedroom, then he realised that he hadn't gone back to check on Xavier.

He went downstairs and out into the courtyard. It was cold and he wished he had picked up his coat. Had a quick check that no one was around, and crossed the stone cobbled yard without a sound. He reached the stone building, 

Something danced around the edge of his mind, a slight movement had caught his eye from across the estate, he was sure that he had seen something move, he fell back into the shadows of the building and dropped to a crouch, all tiredness and thought of sleep gone. 

As he watched, a figure vaulted over the wall at the far end of the estate and landed lightly on its feet. It had a quick look around the area and started towards the west side of the estate. Gabriel fumbled around in his pockets for his ear piece. He eventually found it, slipping it into his left ear,