Chapter 7

--Harper--

After waiting for nearly another hour for the other two girls to get ready, I was sitting on the bed trying to buckle my shoes when Gabriel came into the room. His dark denim jeans looked amazing on his ass. He had a white button-down shirt and a thin black tie. He was stunning. He knelt down in front of me buckling the wedges for me. He seemed upset and I couldn't blame him. I reached down and cupped his cheek. He turned his face into my hand, and I rested his head in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair and the tension slowly seeped out of its frame. His mother called from downstairs.

"Come on you two, or we will miss the show." He stood up and held a hand out for me. I let him help me to my feet and his fingers skimmed through mine. I caught his fingers and followed him out of the room. We walked downstairs and Kayla was bouncing around she was excited to go into town. She probably hasn't been there very often. We all crawled into the van, and Kayla was watching the window. I could see both Callie and Gabriel getting tenser and tenser the closer we got. I prayed that we didn't run into his father, as much as I wanted to meet him. I didn't want to cause him any kind of pain. We parked and there was actually a small carnival going on, I looked to Gabriel then back to the lights. Kayla was bouncing in her seat, we parked and got out of the car.

"Mom we can definitely do this instead of dinner and a movie." She smiled at Kayla and nodded. Although I think Callie was a little relieved to not have to move closer to town. I stepped out of the van and Gabriel seemed to be a bit relaxed.

"You two go ahead," She smiled and knelt down in front of Kayla to strap on her bag. I smiled and Gabriel took my hand pulling me softly after him.

"You seem more relaxed now, than on the way down." He shrugged and I laid my head on his shoulder.

"It will be okay, come on. I'll win you a teddy bear." I pulled him up to a booth and he shook his head at me. Like he really didn't expect me to win him anything. He was shaking his head at me when I lined my aim up at the small milk jugs stacked three high. This wasn't so hard, and I had three tries I didn't need. I let the first ball fly and it met its mark, knocking down the three wooden milk jugs.

"You don't really mean to--"

"WINNER!" I smiled and clapped my hands, I told him I was going to win him a bear. I handed him the small stuffed panda bear. And he looked down at his hands and then to me and it made me laugh the look on his face. I pull on his hand and he moved behind me.

"You would think that this is your first carnival..." I looked down at my toes and he tipped my chin up.

"Harper you can't be serious, this isn't your first..." I bit at my lip and he shook his head at me.

"How in the world did you make it through childhood not going to carnivals?"

"My mother was very protective...she was always worried someone would want to take me." He shook his head and walked me through the stalls and the smells were to die for. The caramel apples, and cotton candy. Popcorn and hot dogs. It all mixed together, usually, I wouldn't think it would smell good, but it was a unique smell that was appetizing. I was watching the rides spin around when I felt Gabriel tense. I turned my head around and his eyes were glued to a small corner booth, looked and I didn't see what he saw. It just looked like a crowd of random people. I reached back to him and he caught my hand, it wasn't a rough hold. But was tighter than he usually held on.

"We can go, come on." He looked down at me, and I could feel his anxiety, his anger. I put my hand on his chest and he went from tense to nearly vibrating in half a second before I heard a voice. It was high pitched, and over sweet. The kind of sweet you use when you want someone to really like you, or really want to be annoying.

"Gabriel! It's nice to see you!" It was a female voice, and I felt the overwhelming urge to protect him. I turned and it was a girl a few years younger than Callie I would suspect. She had large blue eyes, sun-kissed skin, long blonde hair, and her waist looked impossibly thin. I knew instantly she wasn't fully human. But she wasn't an angel she didn't have wings, demons usually weren't fair-haired, of course, she could dye it. But she was throwing off a different vibe altogether. He regarded her with cool indifference.

"Vivian." I assumed was her name.

"Oh! And you finally got a girlfriend, such a pretty little angel." Her hand came forward to pat my head, and I pulled back. I didn't want this lady touching me. A second later an arm came around her shoulder, and the man stood about Gabriel's height his hair dark brown, he had Gabriel's eyes. This must be his father. He was lean like Gabriel, there was something about him that I wasn't sure about. I didn't know exactly where this guy stood like I did Gabriel. I moved back toward Gabriel, his arm wrapped around my waist pulling me tightly to his side, and at the movement, his eyes fell on me.

"Gabriel, you never return my phone calls." I looked between them and I knew this wasn't my place. I felt like I was in the wrong place.

"Because I have nothing else to say to you." I felt a shiver run through my body. And he looked at me then to Gabriel.

"I would love it if you would come to dinner at the house, you are always welcome there you know." He looked at me like I was going to help convince him that Gabriel was going to come to his house for dinner, but I didn't have any word in what he did or did not want to do. His father sighed and turned to me extending his hand.

"My name is Michael," I looked to Gabriel, I didn't want to be rude. I hesitantly shook his hand.

"Harper..." He nodded and gave me a soft smile.

"You both are welcome at my home, no matter when or why." I nodded and they turned walking away and Gabriel turned to look at me.

"Harper I know you will want to take his offer--" I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Hiding my face in his chest, taking in his scent he meant too much to me to pressure him into doing something he didn't want to do.

"I will never pressure you to do anything you do not want to...when it comes to your father. That isn't any of my business." He nodded and I looked around us, no one else seemed to have noticed the tense meeting.

"Do you want to find your mom and sister? We can leave?" He titled my chin up and pressed a kiss to my lips. The electricity was amazing, it zipped through me. It was a feeling I would never tire of.

"We have too much to do before we can leave, I won't let him ruin this for you." I looked at him and smiled. I was glad we were staying, but I felt bad knowing his father was here.

"Gabe--"

"I can handle it. Don't worry about it." I nodded and he handed me the panda. I hugged it tightly and I looked up at him.

"We do need to talk about your dreams though." He mumbled to me, and I should let him know. If we were going to do this relationship thing, there couldn't be secrets.

"Later, right now. I think I want some cotton candy." He smiled and we walked over to one of the vendors. After arguing the point of blue against pink. We ended up with a mixed bag and went to find Kayla and Callie. The second I saw Callie I knew she had seen his father. She was putting on a brave face for Kayla but I knew she wanted to just hide. Gabriel looked at me and I nodded. He pulled his mother into a hug.

"Go on home. I'll bring Kayla home in a bit." She looked at me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"You are a good girl Harper." I smiled at her and Gabriel cast a look back at me. I smiled and he looked torn. He didn't want to abandon me here with his little sister, but he wanted to take care of his mother too.

"Go on, there isn't too much trouble I can get into here. I'll take Kayla on a couple of rides then come home promise." He took a step after his mother then shook his head. And I frowned, why was he having a hard time with this.

"Harper--you find trouble in the church." I wrinkled my nose at him, and he sighed.

"I'll be right back, promise." I looked at him and nodded, and he went after his mother. I turned and waited for Kayla to get off the ride. She ran up to me wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Where did mommy and Gabriel go?"

"They were tired, but I told them to go home the party poopers. We are going to ride a few more rides then fly home okay?" She squealed with delight and pulled me to another ride.

After fighting for a few moments with my dress I was able to lift Kayla up in my arms, she had two stuffed animals, a big bag of cotton candy, one carnival goldfish, and a small bag of popcorn. I may have gone a little overboard, but she had forgotten about Gabriel and Callie leaving which was the point. It was a very hard balancing act, and I was very glad that Callie had left her small book bag, which we shoved everything but the fish and one of the animals. I picked her up and took off towards home. It worried me that Gabriel hadn't been back, he told me he was going to come back, and he doesn't lie to me. Maybe he and Callie had lost track of time, yea. That was okay, they were both in distress. She cuddled into me and I knew the moment she fell asleep. I landed in the front yard, and she was passed out, her grip on the fish was loose but she didn't drop the poor creature. I walked her inside and Callie was waiting in the kitchen, she took the fish from her and found a bowl for the thing that probably wouldn't last the week. She turned and took Kayla from me, and I sat her bag down, unpacking her goodies while she tucked her in bed. She came back down and looked to the door then to me.

"Where's Gabriel?" And with that, my scalp tingled. My eyes flew to hers and there was fear in the wide orbs.

"What do you mean? I thought he was here with you?"

"No, no. He left about two hours ago to get you and Kayla...I thought he was with you." I rushed upstairs, changing out of my dress and heels. If I was going to be flying around I didn't need to flash my entire backside to the world. I came downstairs braiding my hair and Callie was pacing.

"I'll find him, Callie. Don't worry." I walked out the backdoor and launched into the sky, back to the carnival. It was a little less populated. So I figured if he were still here then I would be able to find him easily. But I couldn't see him, and I heard a high pitched laugh that grated on my nerves. I shouldn't ask him for help Gabriel would be angry. But I turned and walked to the sound, they might have seen him, or at least know where in town someone would take him, heaven forbid they took him. I may only be in my first year, but I would tear this town apart to find him. I walked up to this father and he seemed surprised to see me.

"Michael, you extended an invitation to your home, I think I need to change the offer." He looked at me and his eyes were exactly the same as Gabe's. He nodded and waited for my counter offer.

"Gabe is missing, Callie said he came back to get Kayla, and he didn't show up here, and he isn't at home. Callie tried calling his cell phone and he isn't answering...help me find him." He turned to Vivian who started for the exit.

"She will start a small search party, now we take to the skies." And I had assumed Michael was an angel, but then I realized I didn't see his wings. Because he wasn't an angel, he was a demon. His wings spilled from his back, and Gabriel was a demon. He never hid his wings...that's why I assumed he was an angel. But he wasn't. He was a demon.

"Fly with me, if we do happen to find him he will run from me...I have a feeling he would run to you no matter who you were standing beside." I nodded and followed him into the sky, I flew watching the city below. Where are you, Gabriel? And my nightmare flashed in my mind and my heartbeat tripled in my chest. I needed to find him and I needed to find him right now.