Chapter 7

My Love

Gloria sat at the table, looking enthralled. Her name wasn't mentioned, but somehow, she knew he was singing to her and only her. Abe was singing, and she had been told that this was a song he had written. It was about his struggle to convince the love of his life that she should be his and his alone. The song was beautiful, and she had no doubt it would hit on any chart once it was released. It brought tears to her eyes and made her think of that last kiss he had given her last night when he had left.

She knew anyone would call her a fool, and maybe she was one. It was just that in the past, she had made decisions quickly and regretted them for a long time. Maybe she was going too far in the opposite direction. Everything felt wonderful when she was with Abe. He was the perfect man. There was no denying it. Stef was right that she wouldn't be able to live with it if she lost him. Her friends sat near her, looking at her as the song finished. Everyone knew the song was about their relationship and how much he wanted her.

It was time for them to go to the next step. Abe wanted to, and Gloria knew it. She was dragging her feet every step of the way as the relationship progressed. Abe had allowed her to take her time and feel comfortable, but now it was time to move on. Gloria felt ready and was excited about this next step. They would have to take it to his room this time. Being caught by Kiki simply could not happen. They finished their set about lunchtime. Food was brought in, and they all sat and enjoyed it. Abe sat next to her. There was little talk because demons paid attention to what they ate and enjoyed it greatly.

Gloria realized it was because they had been starved for so much of their lives. Even when they had eaten, most of the food wasn't good. Yes, she realized they'd been kept prisoner but hadn't realized they'd been abused and mistreated. Even though she had watched many of the articles about the gods, she had not realized how heavy the abuse had been or that those classified as demons had generally been treated worse. She still wasn't sure why some were classified as demons. She had asked Abe, but he had changed the subject and never really answered. Maybe that was one of those secrets that he was keeping from her.

Stef knew those secrets, so once you became a mate, as they called them, you would learn them. Gloria wondered if she was ready to know. If they were trying to keep that hidden so hard, those secrets would have to be bad ones indeed. They returned to their next set, and this time, Lu sang a song that was a tribute to Stef. While it didn't say her name, it might as well have. The songs by other bandmates didn't have a love theme. Some sang about having fun and spreading their gift so all women could enjoy it. Those were usually funny songs and very lighthearted.

Gloria knew that their songs spoke to where they were in their lives. Some were still recovering and learning to enjoy their freedom, hoping to find that special person but not in any hurry to do so. The songs they were rehearsing right now would be the next album they would put out, and each had written at least one of them. By sharing the responsibility, Lu and Win do not have to write all the songs. Both were creative, and sometimes songs just seemed to burst out of them, but at other times, it helped knowing someone else was helping and they didn't have to force their talent.

Several sets later, it was supper time. Food was brought in again, so no one had to hurry. The food was always excellent. This one was Italian. That was one of Gloria's favorites. Kiki had plans for the day and probably wouldn't be home until late. She had no worries there, and after they finished eating, they would take a walk on the beach and try to find as many cool shells as they could. According to Abe, they would need those shells for the entryway within a month. That wasn't very long, and they would probably be going on a romantic walk every evening to pick up shells. Some nights, all the shells were similar to ones they already had, and those wouldn't be useful, at least not for the entryway to the restaurant.

"Are you ready for our walk?" Abe asked.

"Let's go."

He took her arm and escorted her out the door. This door led directly to the beach and nothing else. It was a full moon, and she loved walking under the full moon. The island had its share of wild animals, even though most of them were birds and small ones. There were a couple of wild dogs, but they were unfriendly and stayed away when anyone came around. When she'd been given her tour the day she'd arrived, she was told to watch out because there were a couple small predators and some scavengers. Today was the first time she'd seen them. There was a large pile of something on the beach and some animals surrounding it, fighting over whatever it might be.

"Gloria, I need you to return to your room and stay there until I tell you otherwise," Abe instructed.

Normally, she would ask what was happening, but she had a bad feeling they were fighting over a body, and it wasn't another animal or fish. She hurried back, located Kiki, and then she called Stef.

"Something's going on. We went on our walk, and Abe told me to go straight to my room and stay there till he told me to come out," Gloria admitted.

"I think it might be a body on the beach. The animals were preparing to eat it, but it's largely intact."

"How do you know all that so soon? I just got to the room."

"Abe was wearing his radio. He called Lu after he got the animals off the body. They will be carrying it to the medical department, but they think they know who it is," Stef offered.

"Can you tell me? Is it someone I know?"

"No, you won't know them because they work for Origin. Other than the bite marks that were inflicted after they died, there are no other signs of injury. This is pure speculation, but they think they drowned. The concern now is whether anyone else who got on the island is alive. Security will probably be doing a room-by-room search."

"I can just tell them nobody is in here," Gloria observed.

"They'll have to check in case they're hidden or in case they have threatened you and are making you say no one is in there. It won't take long, and they will search everyone's room. You're not hiding something secret, are you?" Stef giggled.

She was taking everything so well that it reminded Gloria that her friend had been in the military and had probably seen some action. Gloria didn't think that she would ever get used to seeing or hearing about dead people. Even if they were bad guys, it still was hard to see their dead bodies. Not that she'd gotten a good look at it, and she was glad. That would be a horrible way to end her day. The way things had turned out was bad enough to begin with.

They said goodbye and hung up.

"Is it true? Did you and Abe really find a dead body?" Kiki asked.

"I didn't get a good look at it, but it seems that we did. The animals on the island were fighting over it, each trying to get their supper. That's the circle of life, but I don't want to see any of it. They warned me there were dangerous animals on the island, but I had never seen them until tonight. Now we know to be careful, or they'll fight over us."

Kiki didn't say anything. There really wasn't much to say. Only a few children were on the island, and now they would have something exciting to discuss. That made Gloria wonder how they would deal with something like that. What they had on the island was security. She didn't think they were considered police. She was sure that security could investigate, but could they arrest someone if someone else had a hand in this accident? If they worked for the company that had destroyed their lives, would the demons even care how they died?

The whole thing had ruined the fabulous evening that she had planned with her boyfriend. Now, she would shower and relax with her sister before her TV until bedtime. That was nothing like the evening she had planned. Maybe things will be better tomorrow? At least she didn't have the dead body on her mind where she would be imagining it all night. Famous last words. After they went to bed, all she could imagine in her mind was bodies popping up out of graves or on a morgue table. She never thought she had a good imagination, but she had imagined many ways for a zombie or a corpse to come after her. Abe had never called, and that had just made things worse.

Gloria wasn't even sure if he was going to meet her for breakfast or not. She assumed he was going to, so she dressed and headed out to meet him. It was no surprise, not really, that he wasn't there. What was unusual under the circumstances was having to make her own plate because she had gotten used to him having one ready for her. Sitting at their table wishing he would show up, all she really did was push food back and forth. Normally, she was hungry and at a good weight where she felt comfortable with herself. She'd never been one for skipping meals anyway, so she tried to pay attention to the food on the plate and at least eat a decent share of it. Abe showed up by the time she was through two cups of coffee. Better late than never.

He had a job to do, and she knew it. He was a big part of a famous band and was in charge of this whole island complex. They hadn't even named it yet. Lu wanted to call the area around the hotel Demon City and the island Demon Island. She thought calling it Demon Island was not bad, but Demon City? It didn't matter because she had no say in it. She greeted Abe as he arrived at the table after stopping to fill his plate. She felt bad that she hadn't made his plate like he usually did hers.

"I wasn't sure if you would make it at all today," Gloria explained.

He shot her a sexy smile. "I wasn't sure if I was going to make it either. Apparently, there are a lot of notifications when you find a dead body. The guy is from Canada. We had to notify the government there. They wanted information so they could pass it on to his family. They also asked about the investigation, which we said had just begun, but so far, it looked like he had drowned, and there was no foul play evidenced. Since his last employer was in the US, we also had to notify them. I don't think it's a real employer, but we had to notify them anyway. Once that was done, someone notified the press because we got nonstop interview requests. We're ready for it to end, but it's just begun."

"It'll run its course like everything else does. Stef said the rooms would be searched, but no one ever came to our door."

"That's because security checked all the videos, and there were no signs of anyone near the building. As far as we can tell, the guy drowned in the ocean and was swept up on the shore. That makes us think that they were doing surveillance, and he either got shoved off the boat or fell off it. I have a feeling we may never know. Security is using this as an excuse to use their little drones and see what kind of ships are nearby. I swear they're like a bunch of little boys and girls playing with toys." Abe observed.

"I know it was a bad guy, but it is still awful. If he has a family, I'm sure they're upset."

"Next of kin is an uncle who he hasn't seen since he was a boy. There are no children, no wives, and no ex-wives. I'd say he was a loner, and the only ones who knew him well were those he worked closely with."

"That's a sad way to live. Is that a picture of him?" Gloria reached for the picture Abe had in his hand.

"I've seen this guy before. It was when I was coming here after one of my jobs. Kiki wasn't with me, and I thought it was odd that he asked me if I was traveling alone. It occurred to me that he might be hitting on me, but after I said yes, he didn't pay me any attention anymore."

"Are you sure this is the guy?" Abe asked. "That means they have been surveilling us and those leaving and coming from the island."

"Doesn't that make sense?"

"It does, but we weren't aware of it."

"What do you do about it?" Gloria asked.

"I'm not sure, but we will have to do something. Had the man not washed ashore, we would have never known this."

That was scary. Someone could be watching the demons, and they had no idea who or how. There was no doubt that security would have to take a step up.

"What do you think they want? Do they want to capture some of you, or do they want to destroy everything you've built?"

"That's a good question. All we have is a dead man, so there is no way for us to find out anything from him. We must discover where he came from before he washed up on the shore and if anyone was with him. Sierra is checking out the satellite views, if there are any, for the time range that we think he probably died. Louis did an autopsy because Risa was suffering from morning sickness. There was a bruise, which probably came from being shoved overboard. The cause of death is drowning under suspicious circumstances. If someone shoved him, then someone would be with him. Once Sierra gets us some information, we must track it down," Abe explained.

"Playing detective might be exciting if it wasn't so personal and if there was not so much at risk. Please be careful. From what you have told me and what I have seen, things could turn deadly quickly."

"Don't worry about us because we have been at risk all our lives. What we have survived has been unbelievable. We will be careful. What do you think about having a special meal out on the patio? We will be close to the building, so it will be safe." Abe asked.

"If you are sure we will be protected, it sounds wonderful."

Abe just nodded, and she felt he was keeping something from her. It was hard to complain since he had told her more than usual, and she was beginning to understand the secrets behind the demons. They had lived through so much, and it seemed their problems still existed. Kiki was only allowed on the beach with others and during the day, so she did not worry about her. The concern was for others who liked to take moonlight walks. Many of them were disabled due to what Origin had done to them.

The beach was their escape, and she was sure they would not be allowed to go on the beach until this was dealt with. Otherwise, they would just be a target. Breakfast was done, and it was time for both of them to get back to work. Gloria found things she could do online to make extra money. She needed all the money that she could gather because she worried about what would happen if this job ended and about Kiki and the college and other things that the girl would need.

It was good of the demons to pay her a small salary for medical work because she was also getting college credit. She had discussed it with Stef, who explained that the hospital was taking paying patients from outside and making money. That meant that they could afford to pay those who assisted with the care of those patients. She also explained that Kiki was very good at the work, and she thought that she would make a great medical worker. It was hard to tell what level she would be good on, but right now, she was doing a great job, and many people had a hard time doing that work.

Maybe her sister had finally found her niche, and things would settle down. In a few years, she could take her own path in life and handle whatever came up. Gloria would never cut her sister loose but letting her take more responsibility for her own decisions and care would be good for her. Right now, she was doing so much better it was unbelievable. Kiki had decided to finish her high school work and take on a few courses and continue with her work at the hospital.

Gloria felt like that was the right decision. A few of the easier courses wouldn't be so hard on her, and when she started college, she would have a leg up. The work she was doing would help pay for her schooling, and right now, since she was staying with Gloria, she didn't have to pay any rent or utilities or groceries, for that matter. She could only hope that their missing parents wouldn't appear and decide that everything was wonderful and that they wanted her back. If they did that, she was sure it would ruin everything.

It was time for her to get on the computer and make money. She had a blog where she explained the work she did with the demon band. She listed some makeup and items she used to make them look their best on the website. These items were advertised, and they went to the website to buy them, and she got a small cut of the purchase price. She had not expected it to do so well, but the items sold like crazy. The demon band was popular. Everything they touched turned to gold. Now, if only they could get Origin out of their lives.

Abe had said nothing about lunch, but they normally ate it together, so she headed to the cafeteria at the right time and hoped he would be there. She was glad to see that he was. He already had two plates and drinks in their place and was waiting for her. The guy was perfect. She was ready to move forward, but everything seemed to interfere.

"How is business today?" Abe asked.

"Things just keep getting better. The world loves your band, and anything associated with it makes money. How is the other matter going?"

"Sierra sent us a picture of the boat and the person who pushed the other guy overboard. We sent the picture out to all law enforcement around the world. I'm not sure how much assistance we'll get."

"I thought most of the governments in the world promised to help you when it came to Origin?" Gloria wondered.

"That was then, and many of them didn't help then. Now, unless it is something that helps them, I don't expect any help. They'll only help if the guy is wanted for something else, and it is in their best interest to grab him."

She was beginning to understand what the demons had been through. Now she was understanding how little help they were getting. It seemed that they had to fight for what they needed and wanted every step of the way. That was probably why Lu had begun the band and seemed concerned about making the money to run the island properly. Gloria admitted she wondered why they were bothered by this unless they loved performing. It had been her opinion based on the things she heard and saw on the news that they had been given large amounts of money various governments had gotten from taking property from the big corporation who abused them.

Maybe she was guilty of believing everything she saw on the news. She knew from several times when she was close to the situation that sometimes they lied. Gloria remembered a news headline that hadn't been correct, and the gods had taken action and sued those who had posted it. Since then, she hadn't seen anything negative against the gods. That didn't mean some of the positive things weren't over-exaggerated. The money they were said to have received might not be nearly enough to handle the things they needed to handle.

She'd seen how seriously some of the demons had been damaged. Gloria had also seen how Risa had repaired some of that damage. That had cost a great deal of money. She also knew that while there were not many demons here, there were more of them with the gods, and there seemed to be more gods than she had been told. The cost of recovering these gods had to be high as well. Gloria felt she was beginning to understand some of the demons' and gods' issues. She still didn't believe that they were going to share their deepest, darkest secrets with her or anyone else who wasn't tied to one of their males. That might not matter soon because she felt she was about to be tied to Abe in a way that nothing could change.

If they hadn't found the dead body on the beach, they would already be tied together. Gloria tried to think of any way to help with this, but she wasn't much of a detective. Kiki had told her all of the kids were talking about the dead guy on the beach. Most of the demons were talking about it, too. Even some of her friends who worked with the band knew what had happened. This was something that they had not kept secret. Part of the reason was because they were concerned about the dangers that somebody showing up on the island, dead or not, could cause. The wild animals had immediately begun feasting on the dead body, and they would protect their food the best way they could.

"So, was he really dead?" Kiki asked.

"Abe wouldn't let me get close to him, but he certainly looked that way. If he wasn't, I would expect him to scream the way those animals were going after him. I hope that clarifies that you shouldn't get out on the beach after dark."

"I'm already not allowed on the beach after dark."

"This shows you why. I've never thought that there were any animals that dangerous on the island. Now I know that there are and that we need to avoid them at all costs," Gloria explained.

"Why were you out there after dark?"

"I was walking with Abe, and we were picking up shells. We will soon need them at the restaurant's entry."

"Were you scared?" Kiki asked.

"Yes, I think anyone would be. Isn't it time for you to go sit with the patients?"

"You never want to tell me anything."

"I've already told you things that I don't think anyone else knows, and you need to keep that to yourself," Gloria admonished.

She didn't really know what her sister expected. Gloria supposed that she didn't feel like a child and wanted to be treated like an adult even though she wasn't one. It was an awkward stage caught between a youngster and an adult. Her sister had gotten so much better, but it was hard to take a chance on her when she considered her past behavior. Unfair? Maybe, but she had to be careful, and trust had to be earned. Kiki was on the right path, and it wouldn't be long before the trust was there. Gloria checked up on her less and less. Kiki was left on her own more and more. Wasn't that what she wanted?

Kiki left to take her shift at the hospital. Gloria had heard that Charlene, the patient they had brought back here from their mission, was sitting up and able to talk. Her wounds were healing, and Lucifer had already talked to her about becoming a doctor at the hospital. She'd not given them an answer, but they all seemed sure she would take the job.

It was supper time, and she needed to meet Abe at the patio. When she arrived, torches were lit at every corner, and flowers were everywhere. Candles were on the table, and someone had put out the fine China, including wine glasses. The aroma of flowers perfumed the air, and everything was perfect. It was the way she imagined a romantic man would set the mood to ask his woman to marry him. Gloria knew they weren't to that point, but she appreciated his effort for her.

Abe sat there waiting for her and got up to pull her chair out. He poured her wine and then his own before he sat back down.

"I wanted to do something special for you, especially after yesterday's bad day. Nothing kills the romance like a dead body," Abe explained.

"Are you sure we're safe here?"

"Security is on high alert. We are as safe here as any place else on the island except for the beach or the forest. If anything were to happen, I would want you to run for the door, and I would deal with it."

"Didn't like leaving you behind last night. I certainly don't want to leave you behind tonight," Gloria explained.

"That's too bad for you, Gloria," a male said from outside of the area the light hit.

"Go!" Abe urged.

"It's too late. I've got a gun pointed at her. If she moves, she's dead. You need to decide if you prefer her alive and captured or dead on the ground."

"Carson, when did you become an important person at Origin? Last time you were seen, they said you were a guard and not a very good one," Abe said.

"You were always arrogant, even as a prisoner with no rights and sometimes barely alive. That will change when I get you back to the facility. I will be in charge this time, and I'll have your woman, so I'll decide what you do and don't. We figured out how to grow gods. That little bit of extra demon DNA won't mean a thing when you breed with a human. The babies will be perfect gods. It was an oversight that we didn't milk all of you for your seed. All we have to do is find your perfect mate, and they get pregnant almost immediately. That means you're going to be a father. Isn't that exciting?" Carson said sarcastically.

"All these years with Origin, and you've learned nothing."

"What do you mean?" Carson said, but then he looked down at the dart sticking in his chest. There were other darts in other strategic locations.

Undoubtedly, he would be completely out when he hit the ground.

"Lu, I'm going to kill you. I said we would not bait a trap." Abe roared in anger.

"I wanted you to go walk on the beach. None of us knew the idiot was stupid enough to approach the building. I was just taking safety precautions because sometimes their people are stupid. You should be happy. We caught him, and he didn't intend to leave until he got someone. He has always had a particular thing for you for some reason."

Gloria listened to the conversation as cold chills ran up and down her spine. Had Abe really allowed them to be bait for a homicidal maniac?