Forever (Fallen 3)

“Humor me,” he pleaded. “I know you and you’ve probably not eaten a thing all day.”

I realized that he was right. I had been so stressed that the thought of eating had never crossed my mind. “Fine,” I took a bite of the pasta on the plate. I chewed and swallowed. “This is actually pretty good.”

He chuckled. “I knew you were hungry.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and took another bite.

“I’ll get you a drink,” he disappeared. He hadn’t been gone more than a second before Gabriel slid into his seat.

“Hey,” I gasped. “I didn’t know you were here.” I leaned across the table and gave him a one armed hug.

He smiled. “I would never miss your wedding.”

“Aww, Gabriel you’re such a softy.”

“What can I say? You melted my stone cold heart.”

“You were never stone cold, you were just sad. There’s a difference.”

“Sure there is,” he mumbled, rolling his silver eyes. I guessed it was a good thing my brothers did know about vampires now or else they would be wondering about all these silver-eyed pale people.

It still amazed me how Gabriel and I had become friends. I worried about him and despite what he claimed, I knew he worried about me too. Underneath his shirt I could see his necklace that held his wedding band and his dead wife Leah’s. His story still broke my heart but I was convinced that Gabriel could have a happy ending. He deserved one.

I took another bite of pasta as he stuck his hand into his tux pocket. “I got you guys something,” he said, handing me a small brown leather book. It was worn and the pages were yellowed. It smelled kind of funny. I opened the first page and managed to read the only three lines on the page before Gabriel slammed it shut. “It’s actually just for Jonathon,” he said.

“Oh,” I replied confused.

The lines I had been able to read had read;

There was the seer with dreams behind her eyes,

There were the blue flames shining brightly from his hands,

And there was the child with powers like no other.

It was handwritten and the ink was faded. But I knew what I had read and a sense of foreboding settled in my stomach. Jonathon chose that moment to reappear with a glass of wine and a glass of water.

“Gabriel, it’s good to see you.”

“Jonathon,” said Gabriel, snatching to book away from my reaching hand, and giving it to Jonathon. Jonathon eyed it with a puzzled expression and then something registered.

“You found it,” he murmured almost too low for me to hear.

Gabriel nodded imperceptibly and Jonathon stuffed the small book into his pants pocket. I felt frightened and I knew that I had no reason to be. But I couldn’t help it. That book…

Gabriel stood and started to walk away. “Wait,” I called and he turned back. “Where are you going?” I asked. Jonathon took the seat again.

Walking backwards so he could look at me Gabriel said, “I’ll see you later. Congratulations,” and then he was gone.

I shook my head. This was getting weirder and weirder.

I finished the food and sipped the wine and immediately regretted it. Sputtering I switched to the water. I could hear Mason’s laughter before I saw him. He and Danny appeared. Mason grabbed a chair from another table and turned it around backwards before settling into it. “Where have you guys been?” he asked.

Jonathon chuckled, “Trying to avoid people.”

Mason quirked his eyebrow. “Really?” he threw his arms out. “This is all for you.”

“We just wanted some alone time but with this many people it was kind of impossible,” I supplied.