Dark Awakening: Echoes of Destiny (The Children Of The Gods #88)

29. Jasmine

29

JASMINE

W hen Jasmine ended the call with Julian, Ell-rom still stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the crumpled form of their attacker.

She was badly shaken and hanging on by a thread, but Ell-rom seemed to be in worse shape than she was, so she had to keep it together at least until Julian arrived.

She had to make sure that he was okay before allowing herself to fall apart. Later, when she was back at the penthouse, she would let it all out.

But not now.

Except, it was easier said than done when the reality of what had just transpired was washing over her in waves, each one threatening to overwhelm her carefully maintained composure.

"Hey," she said softly, reaching out to touch Ell-rom's arm. He flinched slightly at her touch, and the pain in his eyes when he met her gaze nearly broke her heart. "It's okay, love. You did what had to be done to save my life."

She wasn't even sure that it was true, but he needed to hear her say that. She had a feeling that the gun was not even loaded. The guy might have been using it like a prop on a movie set.

Hell, for all she knew, it was a prop.

Not that she was sorry for the man. Well, she was sorry that life had brought him to that state, but the truth was that a homeless psycho on drugs was dangerous. She was lucky to have Ell-rom with her, but some other helpless victim might have ended up dead because the druggie choked the life out of her.

Ell-rom nodded, but the haunted look remained. "Why didn't you tell Julian what I did?"

"Because we don't know for sure that you did that," she said. "Maybe he got scared seeing your red eyes and elongated fangs, and his heart gave out."

Ell-rom winced. "My eyes were red?"

Oops. She shouldn't have said that. Given the way Ell-rom had looked during the moment before the druggie collapsed, there was very little chance that the guy had died from natural causes.

Ell-rom had looked like the personification of his deadly ability, and if she wasn't as in love with him as she was, she would have been scared of him too.

"Yeah." She sighed. "There was a fire in them, and it looked red hot, not metaphorically but literally." She hoped the two terms translated well into Kra-ell.

He seemed to get what she meant. "I felt the fire behind my eyeballs. The rage was like an inferno scorching my veins. The attacker did not die from natural causes. I killed him. I know it, and you know it."

"So what?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "We are a team, and we decide what to let the outside world know. If you want to keep your talent a secret, it is safe with me. I will always have your back, no matter what."

He arched a brow. "Even if I kill an innocent by mistake?"

Jasmine shook her head. "You won't. If you were that trigger-happy, you would have killed the bastard the moment he attacked, but you waited, and you only acted when he started to choke the life out of me."

Ell-rom rested his forehead against hers. "You give me too much credit. I was paralyzed and didn't know what to do. I forgot about even having the ability."

Jasmine smiled. "You've just proven my point. It wasn't your first instinct to react with your death ray."

"But won't Julian figure it out when he gets here?"

"Not necessarily." Jasmine turned to look at the vagabond. "There are no visible wounds and no external indication of what caused his death. To anyone else, it could look like he just collapsed."

Ell-rom nodded. "Thank you for protecting me."

"Always and forever."

The sound of a car rolling into the alley made Jasmine jump, and she instinctively stepped in front of Ell-rom, trying to shield him.

It wasn't a car, though. It was an ambulance, and after it rolled to a stop next to them, Julian exited, wearing his doctor's coat.

"Are you both unharmed?" he asked, his eyes scanning them for injuries before turning to the body on the ground.

"We're fine, just badly shaken up. He tried to rob me, and when Ell-rom flashed his fangs, he must have gotten scared and collapsed."

The best lies were the ones that were closest to the truth. Besides, she didn't want Julian to think that Ell-rom had just stood there and had done nothing to help her.

It was her job to protect her man's honor.

Julian crouched beside the body, checking for vital signs. "No pulse, no respiration," he muttered. He looked up at them, his brow furrowed. "What exactly happened?"

Jasmine took a deep breath, steeling herself for more lies.

But then Julian stopped her. "Never mind. We can talk about it later. Right now, I need to get him out of here." He went to the back of the ambulance and pulled out a gurney. "I wish I could bring Gertrude with me to make it look more realistic." He waved Ell-rom over. "Go behind the ambulance and come back. I will cast a shroud over you to look like a paramedic."

Ell-rom did as Julian commanded, and when he returned, he was dressed for the part, so to speak, and looked completely different.

"So, here is how we are going to do it," Julian said quietly.

After he explained how they were going to transfer the body to the gurney and then the gurney into the vehicle, Ell-rom helped him stow it in the back of the ambulance.

When it was done, Julian turned to them. "Given how much he stinks, I hate to do this to you, but one of you needs to get in the back with him. Only one can sit up front with me."

"I'll do that." Jasmine started for the back of the ambulance.

The last thing she wanted was to be next to the dead body, but she was better equipped to handle that than Ell-rom.

He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Let me. It's the least I can do."

"People," Julian admonished. "Time is of the essence. We need to get out of here."

Jasmine nodded in acceptance. "Okay. It's a short ride."