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Chapter 8

Gabriel

They didn't speak a word as they left the Masterson hotel and returned to the Klark hotel. He honestly didn't know what to say.

He and Blake were in no way the best of all friends but still, he had considered him a close companion for a couple of years.

The life they led could get quite lonely.

Sure they had beauty, brains, and money-- but there's nothing that can really keep away the loneliness that creeps up on you when you least expect it.

He could understand why Blake acts the way he does. Feelings come and go, but when they are so strong, so powerful, there's rarely any resistance on their parts. Often times he compared themselves to children deprived of love when they seek it the most.

And when you have a star burning as bright as someone like Callista Drakos shining right in front of your eyes, how could you resist?

"I'm sorry." Blake said out of nowhere, breaking the silence that settled on them since leaving Callista in her room.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow, surprised. "What are you sorry for?"

He shrugged. "Lying to you, I guess. Not my finest moment."

"I see the way you look at her." Gabriel said, looking to him at the side as they walked into their top floor suite that Blake, unbeknownst to him, booked. "I don't blame you for your affections for her. It's easy to see why you're attracted to her."

"Easy to see, not easy to know all the reasons why." Blake replied in a toneless voice. "She's more than her looks."

"Oh, I know." He said, going over to sit on the cream-colored couch that dominated the living room of the suite, the dim lighting emitting an air of calmness. "I've heard of her exploits through the years, although this is the first time I'm meeting her."

Blake rolled his eyes. "Not just her skills, Gabriel." He said. "It's just her." He leaned back against the wall, looking much older than his years as he stared down with a far-off expression.

"If you say so." He shrugged.

"By the way, I didn't get a chance to say thank you." Blake added. "For sparing her life. Thank you."

Gabriel clenched his hand into a fist, watching the tendons stick out from under his skin. "Truth be told I wasn't sure I didn't want to."

"Of course you didn't." Blake furrowed his eyebrows. "No sane person would take genuine pleasure from taking a life."

"I used to think so." Gabriel murmured, looking down. "But when I held the gun to her head--the rush of knowing that the slightest movement, a nudge in the wrong direction, could end her life... intoxicated me." He said darkly. "What's one more life to take to be free of a life of endless killing and subordination?" He couldn't believe the turn his thoughts had gone. Him actually missing this life was absurd.

It was because of the life he had that lead to that little girl's death.

***

Blake

Blake remained silent, not knowing what to say.

It was with those last few words that Gabriel uttered that he realized Gabriel had wanted to kill her. If it was the last thing he ever did, he would, to put a stop to this kind of life he had.

"Give me your word." Blake said. "Your word that you won't kill her."

"You know I can't promise you that." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Your word that you will at least give us time, then." He replied. "Time to just... think. After we find out what happened to Paris."

Gabriel looked at him, a pondering look on his face as he looked at him as if he was searching for something in his eyes.

"You have my word."

Blake nodded, satisfied.

"Since I won't kill her just yet, we might as well help her find her brother." Gabriel said. "The longer this is dragged on, the more suspicious Cassandra is going to get that we still haven't finished the job."

He groaned. "Why did you always have to be so efficient when it came to your missions? We're on a tight clock then."

Gabriel shrugged. "You can stall her. You need to extract information from Murphy Enterprises right?"

Blake had totally forgotten about that. Cassandra needed him to run his file hooking program through the Murphy database because she needed information from within. She didn't tell him what to look for, just to make sure he got anything and everything and sent it back to her.

"Yes." He replied. "How long until she calls and gets suspicious?"

"She'll call for an update tomorrow. She won't call again unless we call her first after that, that would give us about a week-- maybe two before she calls again of her own accord." He said. "We need to give her something in the meantime."

"It's still early." Blake said, looking at the silver watch on his wrist, its weight a comforting reminder of how far he had come. "It's noon now. I can sneak into the building while they're all on lunch break."

Gabriel nodded in approval. "I'll stay here and set up a secure line for communications and contact Callista Drakos for her plan to find her brother."

"All right." Blake said wearily, straightening up from the wall and walking to the duffel bag he had left by the door with his personal effects while Gabriel went off into one of the rooms. He wasn't sure what made him so uneasy about Gabriel and Calla having any contact with each other, but he was weary.

They're both attractive, yes, and Blake would consider himself good looking as well, but there was no way he was up to par for those two. Where he was slender and lean, Gabriel was built like a wrestler. If he was to describe himself, he would call himself a more understated beauty. It wouldn't be the vainest thing to mention that he was handsome. After all, he was still under CHAOS and they didn't recruit anyone but the most beautiful.

Gabriel never looked past his pretty boy looks. Where Gabriel was muscular, he made damn sure everyone around him knew it while Blake would rather hide the power he packed into the muscles he has always hidden from the public eye.

It was thrilling knowing that his enemies who underestimated him would fall once he laid his hands on them.

They'd make a perfect fit, he thought about Gabriel and Calla as he retrieved a small knife, extra mags for his gun, and the small USB he always brought with him wherever he went.

This is what fascinated him about codes and programming, how something so small and insignificant, could ruin someone's life in the span of a few seconds.

How someone's life's work, can crumble down so quickly and without warning absolutely thrilled him.

Shaking his mind of his negative thoughts, he left their suite and walked out of the hotel into the dreary outdoors, where dark clouds covered the sun and left tears in its wake.

He wrapped his long dark coat tighter around himself to battle the freezing rains as he disappeared into the crowd.

***

Callista

Her nerves were shot and much as she had wanted to rest and take a nap, she couldn't, not after what just happened at least.

Of course, that wasn't her first time to be face-to-face with death. She has danced to the tunes of angels and demons before, she often wondered if the higher beings made bets about her life. She could die at any time and that possibility had never really scared her.

Until now. Now, it had absolutely terrified her.

Paris was more than her flesh and blood, he was more than her brother. He was the one person who has stuck by her since day one.

The fear of dying, without knowing if he was still breathing or not... there were no words to describe the pain that coursed through her.

In an effort to calm her nerves, she had prepared herself a hot bubble bath in the hotel suite. The fragrances she had mixed and bath salts had definitely helped her relax. It was in the tub with small clouds of steam floating over her head that she put things into perspective.

Calla had said she'd willingly go with Arsenio when the time came to kill her. She wasn't stupid enough to have gone rogue without knowing the consequences; she knew what was to come, but could she trust that man to not kill her before they find out what happened to Paris?

She stilled, not moving. She didn't know what to think, she sighed as she got up from the tub--her skin was starting to prune--water trailing down the soft contours of her body as she walked to the nearest towel.

The bathroom was already amazing by itself. It was just the right size with a big counter and sink running across a mirrored wall, a shower, toilet, and decadent tub in the center of the room.

Just as she was wrapping a towel around herself, she heard the phone ring from one of the rooms. She didn't think much about it, it was probably just the front desk calling if she wanted room service. She wasn't in the best mood to eat at that moment so she just let it ring until it eventually turned silent.

She was still in the bathroom, rubbing a lavender-scented complimentary lotion on her arms when the phone rang again. And again. By this point she was a little annoyed--usually, hotel staff took the hint when no one answers the phone.

She gathered her towel tighter around herself before speed walking to the phone.

"Yes?" Calla answered politely.

A voice she wasn't expecting to hear on the other end of the phone spoke. "Leave."

She stilled, the hand that held the phone clenched tightly in her hand in her shock. "Paris?"

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