Finding Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book One

Chapter 15. Leave Your Baggage at the Door*

Chapter 15. Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation

Evan was relieved to look up into Emil's eyes when he stepped in front of her. She had felt at any moment Matt Thomas would appear, but now her guardian angel had returned, everything would be all right. She stood up and her world went wavy as soon as his arms wrapped around her.

"I'm here. You're safe," he whispered into her ear. Evan burrowed into Emil's neck and inhaled his sweet fragrance deeply, allowing it to wash over her. She wanted to find peace, but her nerves were shot.

She allowed him to direct her out of the hospital and was willing to go wherever he would take her. She knew she was safe now.

Evan began to cry, as the realization that she was not going to be Thomas' prey today crashed down on her. Her tight nerves snapped and she felt herself go limp in the seat, tears falling freely down her cheeks.

After several minutes of uncontrolled deluge, she tried to pull herself together. She wasn't a crier. It made her feel very out of control letting the tears fall. Emil was speaking to her and she was having trouble making out what he was trying to say.

She finally found her voice and said through ragged breaths, "Emil, I don't know what is wrong with me! I don't know why I am so afraid."

"I might have an idea. What happened today?" he asked. Evan's eyes were blurry and swollen, unable to focus on his eyes. She realized she hadn't told Emil what was wrong.

"I told Dr. Smith, the Medical Director, first thing this morning about Dr. Thomas. Dr. Smith is an old friend of mine, a mentor really. He was as angry as you over what happened. He must've contacted Matt Thomas right after we finished talking. You see, I went to see Nathan Clark, and was distracted by some of the things going on with him and didn't realize where I was going until I got to the ER. I had planned to avoid it, but I just forgot. I was preoccupied." Her words poured out faster than she intended, but realized it was a relief to get them out.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I heard noise at the front desk when I walked into the ER, somebody was angry. I turned around and was headed back to the stairs, not wanting to get in the middle of any drama, but then he saw me and screamed the most horrible things at me! The security guard was trying to make him leave, but I just hurried as fast as I could to the other side of the hospital and called you. I was afraid he was going to follow me."

She started crying again. Evan's fear of what Matt Thomas might be capable of seemed to intensify as she said the words. Burying her face in her hands, she didn't care that she probably looked like a hysterical basket case. The fear was bubbling up out of her chest, a feeling she hadn't felt in such a long time. She didn't want to feel it now. When the car suddenly came to a halt, she looked up and realized she hadn't been paying attention to where Emil was taking her. She gasped as Emil suddenly reached into her side of the car and effortlessly scooped her out of the seat. He was up the steps on the porch without any effort, and held her with only one arm as he punched a code into the keypad next to a six-paneled French door. She was unsettled by his surreal show of strength; she had no idea he was so strong.

"Where are we?" she asked, pushing against Emil's steel arms to get him to release his hold on her. He didn't comply until he had carried her to a thick angora rug in front of a fireplace. He set her down and instead of having to mess with wood and matches, she was grateful when he flipped the toggle on the wall to light the gas fireplace. She felt the warmth almost immediately. Glancing around, she took in stark white walls with no artwork on them, and windows with wide wooden blinds drawn over them.

"We are at my house," Emil replied finally, looking distractedly around the nearly empty room. There was only a couch and a table in the enormous sunken living area. "I just brought you to the first place I could think of that I knew you would be safe. I haven't been in here in a long time."