She strolled toward an open door down one quiet, dimly lit spoke of the hallway. A candle burned somewhere inside the empty chamber, the only light in the place. The solitude, and the smells of faded incense and old wood drew her in. It was the compound's chapel; she remembered passing it on her tour with Savannah.
Gabrielle walked between two rows of bench seats, toward a raised pedestal at the front of the chamber. It was there that the candle burned, a thick red pillar of slow-melting wax, its flame nestled deep in the core radiating a soft crimson glow. She sat down on one of the front row benches and simply breathed for a while, letting the peace of the sanctuary wash over her.
She flipped open her cell phone. The message symbol was blinking. Gabrielle hit the voicemail button and listened to the first call. It was from Megan, time stamped two days ago, around the same time she'd been calling Gabrielle's apartment following the Minion attack in the park.
"Gabby, it's me again. I've left a bunch of messages for you at home, but you haven't called me back. Where are you? I'm really getting worried! I don't think you should be alone after what happened. Call me back as soon as you get this - and I mean the very second you get this, okay?"
Gabrielle erased it and moved on to the next message, left last night at 11 P.M. Kendra's voice came on, sounding a little tired.
"Hey, there. You home? Pick up if you are. Shit, I guess it's kinda late - sorry about that. You're probably sleeping. So, I've been meaning to call you guys, try to hook up for drinks or something, maybe hit another club? How about tomorrow night? Call me."
Well, at least Kendra was safe as of a few hours ago. That took away some of Gabrielle's concern. But there was still the matter of the guy she'd been seeing. The Rogue, Gabrielle amended, feeling a shiver of fear for her friend's unwitting proximity to the same danger that was currently dogging her own heels.
She skipped to the last message. Megan again, from just a couple of hours ago.
"Hi, sweetie. Just checking in. Are you ever going to call me and tell me how it went at the station the other night? I'm sure your detective was glad to see you, but you know I'm dying to hear in detail just how glad he was."
Megan's voice was calm and teasing, perfectly normal. Completely changed from the panic of her earlier messages at Gabrielle's home and on the cell.
God, that's right.
Because to her, and to her cop boyfriend as well, there was no reason to be alarmed about anything since Lucan had wiped their memories.
"Anyway, I'm meeting Jamie for dinner tonight at Ciao Bella - your favorite. If you can make it, swing by. We'll be there at seven. Save you a seat."
Gabrielle clicked erase and checked the clock on the cell phone: 7:20.
She owed it to her friends to at least call and let them know she was all right. And part of her longed to hear their voices, her only connection to the life she knew before Lucan Thorne turned her entire world upside down. She speed-dialed Megan's cell and waited anxiously as it rang. Muffled talking came over the receiver in the second before her friend said hello.
"Hi, Meg."
"Oh, hey - there you are! Jamie, it's Gabby!"
"Where is that girl? She coming, or what?"
"I don't know yet. Gabby, are you gonna join us?"
Gabrielle listened to the familiar chaos of her friends' chatter and wished she could be there. She wished she could go back to the way things were, before...
"I, ah... I can't. Something's come up, and I..."
"She's busy," Megan told Jamie. "Where are you, anyway? Kendra called me looking for you today. She said she went by your apartment but it didn't look like you were home."
"Kendra stopped by? Have you seen her?"
"No, but she wants to get together with all of us. Sounds like she's done with that guy from the club."
"Brent," Jamie supplied loudly and dramatically over Megan's voice.
"They broke up?"
"I don't know," Megan replied. "I asked her how it was going and she just said she's not seeing him anymore."
"Good," Gabrielle said, so very relieved. "That's really good news."
"So, what about you? What's so important that you can't come out for dinner tonight?"
Gabrielle frowned, staring at her surroundings. The red candle's flame wobbled as the air in the chapel stirred slightly. She heard soft footsteps, then a quietly indrawn breath as whomever walked in realized the chamber was occupied. Gabrielle turned and saw a tall blond in the open doorway. The woman gave Gabrielle an apologetic look, then started to turn away.
"I'm, ah... out of town right now," she told her friends in a hushed voice. "I might be gone for a few days. Maybe longer."
"Doing what?"
"Um, I'm on a commission job," Gabrielle lied, hating to do it, but seeing no other choice. "I'll give you guys a call as soon as I can. Take care of each other. I love you."
"Gabrielle - "
She clicked off the call before she was forced to say anything more.
"I'm sorry," the blond woman said as Gabrielle came toward her. "I didn't realize the chapel was in use."
"It's not. Please stay. I was just..." Gabrielle released a pent-up sigh. "I just lied to my friends."
"Oh." Gentle pale blue eyes settled sympathetically on her.
Gabrielle closed the phone and smoothed her finger over the polished silver case. "I left my apartment in a rush the other night to come here with Lucan. None of my friends know where I am, or why I had to leave."
"I see. Maybe one day you can explain everything to them."