Gabriel woke up with a groan. "Bloody hell! That is the last time I am drinking."
He sat up, the headache was pounding like a hammer in his head, and he looked around. The room was unfamiliar to him.
"Where am I?"
"You are in the upstairs apartment of Children of the Damned." Lucian entered with two glasses and placed them on the small table in front of Gabriel.
"How? Did I?"
Lucian sat down on the only chair in the room. "The little waitress hadn't stopped filling our glasses, you got a bit wasted, so I helped you up to my digs."
Lucian pushed the glass forward. Gabriel was staring at it. "Ugh, so I spent the night here with you?"
Lucian rolled his eyes. "We are brothers now, Gabriel. As I have told you, I look after my own."
Gabriel clutched his head. "Would you mind - lowering your voice?"
Lucian quirked an eyebrow. "Drink the bloody Mary - it will make you feel better. As for lowering my voice, I haven't changed my pitch."
Gabriel reached out at the glass. "Smells like shit!"
"That shit will clear your head. I have things to do."
"What things? Are you going to start stalking her?"
"I am not stalking her. If you must know. . .the hospital called looking for you. Christine is missing."
Gabriel spat the bloody Mary out. "She is what?"
Lucian folded his arms. "Christine is missing, and my guess is Michael."
"No, it can't be. Uri... Uriel was with her."
"Do you have any means to contact him?"
Gabriel shook his head. "Lucian, there is something I haven't told you yesterday evening."
Lucian was already at the door when he turned back. "And here I thought you'd be truthful for once."
"If you don't want to know, walk out."
"You know you are in my apartment, right?" Lucian spat back sarcastically.
Gabriel stood up, clothing his head again. "Why do we always bicker?"
"Hold habits die hard, so what is so important?"
"Christine is not baptized."
Lucian turned back, facing Gabriel. "Run that past me again."
Gabriel straightened his shirt. "I said Christine is not baptized, so if she dies..."
Lucian closed the distance between them and grabbed Gabriel by the front of his shirt. "You tell me this now!"
Lucian's voice thundered through the apartment. Gabriel looked at him with a blank expression, and he repeated, "Why are you telling me this now? If she dies, she does not reincarnate now, does she?"
Gabriel placed his hand on Lucian's. "I needed to tell you the truth. I knew Uriel was with her. That's why I deemed it safe for her."
Lucian threw Gabriel back. Gabriel bounced on the bed. "What if you were wrong? What then? She could be dead for all we know?"
Gabriel rubbed his head where he hit the wall. "If she died, we would have known."
Lucian didn't give Gabriel a response, he left the room, and his front door slammed. Gabriel got up, and he knew he shouldn't have told him this.
Lucian was a bit of a loose cannon when it came to Gadrial, he would stop at nothing to find her, but under the circumstances - if she is lost to them, they will never see her again.
Gabriel finished the bloody Mary, rubbing his eyes, he found his pager and phone on the counter, and he had fifteen new messages on his pager.
"Damn, hospital." He walked out of Lucian's apartment, dialling the hospital. "Doctor Gabriel! We were looking for you!"
"I am sorry, I was indisposed." He rubbed his jaw, where Michael broke it. His jaw healed nicely - sometimes being the Angelic healer helps, even if he was fallen now.
"The lady - Christine Parkins phoned this morning, apparently. . .she is safe and home."
"She is what?!" Gabriel waved for a taxi. "Hospital Genex." The taxi driver nodded.
"Yes, she is at home. We don't know what happened, and she's - asking many questions."
"What kind of questions?"
"How she got home, she can't remember some things. And she was asking for you."
"Okay, stay calm. I am on my way."
"That is a great doctor because she is in your office."
"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" Gabriel shouted on his phone, and the taxi driver jumped. Gabriel cocked his head, whispering 'sorry'.
"I am sorry, doctor - she was adamant in seeing you and didn't want to leave."
"It is fine. I am ten minutes out."
"I'll let her know."
"Thank you, Cynthia."
Gabriel's phone line went dead, and in ten minutes, he jumped from the taxi running into the hospital for his office. "Cynthia, please go pay the taxi driver."
"Well, good morning to you too. You look like shit. . .by the way." Cynthia stomped off to go pay for the taxi.
Cynthia was right. Gabriel looked like shit. He stared at his office door, then the staff room, where their lockers were. "She has been waiting long. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt."
He quickly changed, and he looked in the mirror. . .his eyes were red. He let out a sigh. "Never drinking again."
He stepped out of the locker room and paused at his office door. 'It is no big deal, Gabriel. . .she is still your sister.'
Gabriel pushed open his office door. Christine sat on the couch not too far from his desk. "Good morning, Miss Parkins."
Christine looked up at him. "Good Morning, Doctor Gabriel."
Gabriel kept smiling when he sat behind his desk. "How can I help you this morning?"
In the back of his mind, he had thought about Lucian. He should send him a text to say Christine was safe. The question remained if he wanted to.
"I have come to seek answers, so I hope you'd be able to answer them."
His gaze landed on her. No matter how many times Gadrial reincarnated, it still amazed him that this person was wearing her face to the detail.
"I'll try my best to answer them to my capabilities."
"That is all I ask, truth."
Gabriel gave her a nod. "Ask away."
"I remember falling asleep," she said, indicating around them. "Here in the hospital."
Gabriel knew where this was heading. What the fuck did Uriel do?
"Yes and?"
"I don't remember going home. So I... do you know how I got home?"
Gabriel sucked in a breath. "I was off duty, so I won't be able to tell you."
Christine looked at him; her gaze was piercing, so cold-hearted. "But why can't the other staff that came on duty tell me anything?"
"I do not know."
"Are you sure you are not hiding anything from me?"
Gabriel couldn't help it, he sucked at lying to his sister, and they shared the same genes. "Miss Parkins, in all honesty, I can not tell you how you got home. Are you sure a friend didn't come to pick you up?"
"I have one friend, her name is Neo, and no, she moved to another county."
Gabriel averted his gaze. "A neighbour?"
He saw a shadow flash across her face. "I am not particularly close to my neighbours, but I have this one neighbour who is completely insane."
"Insane, you say?" Gabriel was hanging onto every word she was saying. He wanted her to confirm his belief that Uriel kept her safe from Michael.
"Yes, very his name is Uriel he was almost calling me another name then quickly corrects it to my real name..."
Christine went quiet. "Why am I telling you this? I hardly know you, but it feels like I have known you a long time. . ."
Thank you, Uriel. Gabriel had a small smile. "I am just one of those people. I am a good listener, so you said he called you something strange?"
"Yeah, he did," she replied, and to Gabriel's shock. . .Her voice sounded like Gad. "I am not too sure."
Gabriel nodded. He had to talk to Uriel. Uriel never knew how to play the secret game around Gadrial's mortal body, and come to think of it. . .he always got too attached.
"Wow, that sounds insane. I tell you what." Gabriel took out a business card and held it out to her.
"If he does something like that again or something weird, you ought to - give me a call." Christine took his business card.
"You still didn't answer my question."
"It is because I can not answer it."
Christine looked sceptical, he saw it flash again on her face, and Gadrial was surfacing.
"I am really sorry, and I am going to get very busy. . .if something bothers - you call me."
Christine stood up. He motioned her, leading her then to his office door. "I am sorry I don't have the answers to your question."
Christine didn't respond to him. She pocketed his business card and just left him standing in the doorway.
Gabriel watched her retreating back. He took out his phone, and luckily, he exchanged numbers with Lucian.
"She is safe. Uriel took care of her."
Gabriel pressed sent. He will not be telling Lucian yet what Christine told him. He finally closed his office door. 'Now about Uriel. . .'
Gabriel sat down behind his desk again, folding his hands and placing them on his chin, deep in thought.
Uriel was acting weird. . . well, he had always been a bit strange. If they aren't careful, Uriel might wake Gadrial earlier than scheduled and that. . .would be a disaster.