Archangel's Kiss

Chapter ELEVEN

 CEDRIC

It started with a nervous giggle. Then it turned into laughter as she held her hands against her chest, unable to control herself. I knew it was a burst of tense laughter. She was reluctant to accept all I had told her. She was extremely logical and didn't believe in the existence of other realms, vampires, gargoyles, and other beings that, until now, were part of an imaginary world.

I let her laugh and calm down. I waited patiently for her to stop, and I could talk again. She needed to listen and follow me inside the house where I could show her the angels. Maybe she would believe it faster if she saw them now that she was able to see the supernatural beings, their wings, and their glow. Showing her the angels wouldn't terrify her as much as showing her the gargoyles. Though they were asleep since it wasn't night yet. After she knew that angels, demons, gargoyles, vampires, and all sorts of beings were real, I could tell her the most important thing about what happened the night before. The part where she belonged to me and I belonged to her, and we needed to fall in love so that I could break my curse.

"Please, Aria," I begged, holding her face.

Those big brown eyes were going to be the death of me. Her soft hair was tangled between my fingers. I stared at her face, lost in her features. I had never wanted to kiss a girl as badly as I wanted to kiss her. They said it was magical to kiss one's mate. But I was aware that it was too soon for that. I didn't want to scare her more than she already was.

Aria's expression became serious as she evaded my touch. "You make no sense at all. Is this a prank? Did Gabby decide to send one of her friends to trick me, so she could laugh at my insecurities? I'm afraid I'm too smart to believe in fairy tales. There is no way in hell that I believe vampires exist, and that gargoyles are flying freely in the skies of Paris! And another realm? Where you are the prince? Please, at least, you could be original and say that you're the prince of a small and unknown country in some forsaken continent. But I know geography, so give it your best shot."

I sighed. I knew it would be hard. Aria was more accepting the night before. Guess sleep made her think it had been a hallucination or an awful dream.

Looking around, she asked, "Where's the camera?"

I ruffled my hair. "There's no camera. I wouldn't make up something serious like this. Vampires are real, gargoyles exist, and you need to prepare yourself because there's a lot more that you don't know."

"So...you saved me from drowning in the river. Vampires tried to... And no one knows that I'm here?" This time her voice trembled with fear. "Do my parents think I'm dead? You kidnapped me! Someone else saved me from that river, or I was able to get to the shore and fainted. You found me and brought me here. Now you are messing with my head! I have a family. They must be worried sick!"

"Aria, everybody thinks that you're dead," I informed her, noticing that tears were running down her cheeks. "Please don't cry," I begged, wiping her tears with my thumbs. "It is better for them to think that you are dead."

"How could that be better?" she shouted as she pushed my hands away from her. "I want to see my parents. I demand that you call my family and tell them I'm alive!"

I gazed at her, shocked by her tone and demands. She folded her arms over her chest and stared at me, severe and cold eyes, making my heart hurt with what I was going to say. "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" she asked, anger shining in her eyes.

"I need you to stay with me. We're bound together now."

She frowned. "Bound together. What do you mean by that?"

"You and I are meant to stay together. You're my mate."