I smiled and faded into the passenger seat of the car she was driving. She jerked the steering wheel and my head smacked into the window. Her eyes widened in fear, but I didn’t flinch. In seconds, her gaze morphed into an icy cold glare—something I’d grown accustomed to. She had to decide which was more important—focusing on the road or me. Isabella righted the car on the road.
“My little energizer,” I practically hummed. “I’ve come for a friendly tap.”
She jerked the wheel again, this time on purpose as she pulled onto the shoulder. “Get off!” she shouted.
“That’s no way to treat a friend,” I told her smoothly. Or at least I thought so. Wait a moment, “Off?” I asked her, lifting my eyebrow in question.
She looked murderous. “Get out, I mean.”
“I thought you were trying to change the direction of our friendship.” I never was one to hold back. I tended to say whatever I wanted, all the time. Much to the displeasure of my siblings.
She was looking at me once again like I was crazy. “There’s no relationship, period,” she hissed. “What is it with you? You just left me a couple of hours ago. Why are you doing this?” She looked genuinely confused and upset, and I hated that I made her uncomfortable.
But not enough to go away.
Besides, I wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t even giving me a chance. I glanced around the car and noticed the suitcase and the bag of clothes before going back to watching her. She seemed to be in a hurry earlier too—two days for me. What was she running from?
“Are you in some sort of danger, Izzie?” I was sincerely worried about her.
She tossed her head back and laughed-huffed at me. “Stop calling me Izzie like we’re friends.”
“We will be once you see I’m not a danger to you,” I said easily. A picture of her hanging from the rearview mirror caught my eye. Grabbing it, I inspected the easy-going smile she had on her face. She was a doll regardless of what expression she gave me. Eyes so dark I couldn’t make out her pupils, slightly slanted in a way that reminded me of a feline. She was so tiny and her hair so dark. But her smile in the picture… “That’s a good picture.” I’d for sure get her to smile at me like that, as soon as she accepted this friendship.
She smacked the picture from my hand, and for a small second our skin touched. My eyes widened, and I smiled at the brief contact, giving me that same energy I wanted again. “Focus.” Her small eyes were even smaller when pinched in frustration. “What do you want from me?”
“Let’s be friends.” She still looked annoyed and suspicious as I spoke. “Your touch gives me crazy energy…?” I offered, but when she looked down and bit her lip, I began to think that maybe I wasn’t the only one affected by our bodies encountering each other. “Do you feel it too?”
“What are you?” Her eyes skimmed over me.
“Uh…”
“Uh? Don’t wanna tell me?” Hell’s bells, she got riled up and offended over every word that came out of my mouth.
“I just don’t know how to answer you. My parents are both entities, so I guess that makes me one too?” We never really put a name to us, we just were. The moment I said the word entity her eyes glazed over with fear. Even I was taken by surprise with the obvious horror in her expression. “Hey. Are you all right?”
She blinked several times. “Who are they?”
“You thought I was him when we first met…the Grim Reaper, and his wife Melanie.” With that, her shoulders loosened and sagged in relief. I didn’t understand what was freaking her out, but I suddenly needed to know.
We stared at each other a long while before she finally broke the silence. “So what? You want to keep touching me because of the feeling you get when we touch?” Did I see a hint of red on her cheeks? “Because it feels good?”
Maybe I was an ass, but I couldn’t help but smirk. “Yeah, it’s quite electrifying. It wakes me up so I guess you can say it feels good.” She looked confused. Was I horrible for enjoying it? “Why? Is good the way you’d describe it? Or amazing?”
I thought she might have realized I was teasing her because she scoffed. “You’re so everywhere, it’s confusing.”
I nodded, never having been described that way before. “You’re probably right. That’s inappropriate for friendship.”
Her mouth fell open, and she was back to looking at me like I was crazy. “See what I mean? You’re all over the place with the things you say.”
“I like green eggs and ham,” I couldn’t help but go with what she was implying, and I thought I saw the corner of her mouth lift in an almost smile.
Was I getting somewhere finally?
“If touching my skin is what you want, then hurry up and do it and go away.”
I didn’t get to acknowledge what Izzie was saying because we were about to be rudely interrupted. “Something’s coming.” She stiffened at my words as I looked ahead. “We’re about to get company. A portal’s opening in front of us.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, it opened. Damn. Imps poured out, flying and jumping, headed toward the car. I brought up a barrier blocking any humans from seeing what was about to go down
“Shit,” she muttered, leaning over and pulling her purse from the floor beside my feet. I watched as she removed a portal chip. I took it from her before she could use it. “What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed at me.
“Are they here for you?” I asked simply because of her behavior. She clearly was running from something. I would have suspected that maybe they came to tango with me since the rendezvous in the cave, but Izzie was upset. Her actions just as desperate as the troubled pout on her lips. And imps weren’t clever enough to find me.
“Just let me have my portal chip.” When I didn’t give it to her, she opened the car door with a string of cuss words. She held out her hand and started destroying the imps with her witchy zapping shit. I sighed before re-fading next to her. Before she could protest, I grabbed her wrist and would have let my eyes roll back if I didn’t have to smack imps away in the process.
Oh… Fuck…Yeah.
This was better than good. This was amazing. Her touch was the shit. I finally let go of Isabella and summoned a weapon. Then I was everywhere, fading and re-fading in different areas as I got rid of the imps before focusing on the ogre stepping out of the portal. I finished off the imps and closed off the portal, preventing anything else coming through.
The big guy roared as I did so, stomping around to face me. “This has nothing to do with you, Reaper.”
“You’re a demon standing beside the fucking highway in the human world,” I spat. “That makes you my business.”
His giant belly jiggled as he laughed. “Move.” Before his large hands could smack me, I faded behind him. Morphing my sword into a chain, I wrapped it around his legs and yanked. His feet flew out from beneath him. I placed my boot on his stomach, holding the ugly beast in place.
“Mind telling me what you’re here for?” I asked.
Only he didn’t get a chance to answer. He started to disintegrate, and I turned around to see Isabella working her magic on him.
It made me wonder if she did it so that he couldn’t tell me anything. I couldn’t figure her out. She was running. She was wary of me, but maybe she was wary of everyone. Her touch woke me up, but it bothered her.
I stalked toward her. Our eyes met. Isabella held her palms out, like weapons, as I moved closer. I smiled, revealing every tooth I had.
Imps again? Too much of a coincidence. I had a feeling my little energizer knew the person on the other end controlling the imps.
“I have a feeling we can help each other.”
Six
Isabella
Mr. Handsy was going to be the death of me.
Spontaneous combustion. The cause: his touch.
It was a little unsettling how good it felt when our skin touched. Not to mention, the darkness that swarmed around inside me begged me to latch onto him which was
why I kept wanting him to go away.
And another thing… How was he still alive? He’d touched me a handful of times already. It had only been a few hours since I ran into him at the hospital, but here he was again aggravating the hell out of me because he wanted to touch.
He was the freaking Grim Reaper’s son! And he felt something when we touched too.
Twitchy fingers.
I raked my hands down my jeans trying to calm myself. The ogre couldn’t drag me back now. Yes, the Reaper—Sebastian I believe it was—could have gotten rid of it. But I only trusted me when it came to getting rid of my troubles.
Seeing imps and an ogre after a decade living in the human world was a little disturbing. Julius would send every demon at his disposal to get me back. I hated… No, loathed the Underworld. The very thought of going back had my hackles rising, so when Sebastian turned around with a questioning scowl on his face, my instinct was to protect myself.
For all I knew, Sebastian could be someone Julius sent. I didn’t know anything about the Grim Reaper other than the whole dealing with the dead thing. He could be just as evil as Julius and his son too.
Once the thought seeded itself into my brain, I felt not only worried but hostile. I watched Sebastian take out the imps without a care or much effort. And he had the ogre on the ground before the giant knew what was what.
Of course I was the one who got rid of it, I reminded myself. I could be a badass too. The only problem was I knew nothing about Sebastian. I had no idea what he was capable of. My only advantage was that he had no idea what I was capable of either.
I have a feeling we can help each other. His words were confusing. Was this about our touch again?
“I have no interest in touching.”
He smirked, stepping closer. “That’s a conversation for later.”
This day had been a nightmare. I hadn’t taken a minute to pause and let myself think. Instinct and survival were the only two things my body allowed. Without even blinking, I turned my palm up and spelled the portal chip he took from me to come to my hand.
He disappeared from his spot before the portal chip was firmly in my hand. He materialized behind me, sliding in with so much refinement that shouldn’t have been easy for someone as big as him. He gripped my wrist, and I swung out to hit him. Sebastian blocked my punch. He smirked as he ripped the portal chip from my sweaty palm.
I seethed. Magic crackled around my hands. “Why are you doing this?” I hissed. I was equal parts pissed and tired, so who knew if I sounded like I was giving up or just flat out scary to him.
“I can help you.”
I blasted him with my magic for the second time today. The blast was strong enough to send him flying into traffic, but I didn’t take the chance of leaving even though I could try. I had a feeling running from Julius was a lot easier than it would be trying to get away from Sebastian. He shared smiles, careless words, but I had a suspicion he was so much more than that. That’s why he made me nervous.
He landed on his feet. My magic didn’t faze him. He never even stumbled, just calmly walked across the traffic back to me. Every vehicle slipped through him like he was a shadow. I thought of the cloak he wore earlier when I first met him and realized that maybe he was like a shadow.
Magic still crackled around me. My heart beat was erratic as the adrenaline spiked my blood. I can help you. He didn’t know what he was talking about. Or maybe this was a trick. I tried to think of who Julius was acquainted with and came up blank. I couldn’t remember anyone he didn’t use just like me.
I watched Sebastian slip my portal chip into his jeans pocket before he held up his hands. “I get it. Something’s got you seriously distrustful of everyone that approaches you.” He didn’t try to step any closer to me once he crossed the highway. “It’s not hard to see someone’s after you, and considering it was a swarm of imps and an ogre, I know it’s someone from the Underworld. I can help you,” he said again. “If you let me.”
“Why would you want to help me?”
“Well, for starters, we encountered suspicious imp behavior right after I left you the other day,” he started.
“It’s still the same day for me!” I couldn’t help but snap at him.
“Right.” He nodded. “The time difference is vastly different.” He dropped his hands and waited for me to say or do something. “But more importantly, it’s because we’re friends, you and me. Of course I’ll help.”
I sputtered. “We just met.”
“Yes, but that’s kind of how people become friends. Not to mention, your touch gives me—”
“Please stop with that already.” I slapped my hand over my face.
“It means something, you don’t just get energy like that from touching someone.”
I laughed, amazed at how much easier it was dealing with his randomness than my own problems. “What is our touch supposed to mean?”
He scratched his chin, contemplating. “Well, it could mean all kinds of things.”
“You’re full of shit.”
“My parents were fated,” he murmured, and my eyes widened.
“What are you implying?” Heat rolled over my face and neck. Sebastian was so very male and absolutely breathtaking. My body caught on to his words before my brain could talk sense to it. Perfectly useless. Not that it would help.
Completely ignoring me, he hastened his steps. “Let’s go, Izzie.”
He towered over me. I stared at his chest and tilted my head up. Words escaped me with this guy. “You can stay at my place until I know you’re safe.” He lifted his sneaky hands.
“Wait.” The little critters were moments from reaching out to me before he stopped midway. “No touching.”
“No touching?” Confusion or maybe shock ebbed in his voice.
I nodded and my gaze wandered over his hands, his chest, and settled on his face. I swallowed hard as I moved my twitchy fingers behind me. It was the only way to keep from touching him. “You heard me.” I paused. “I’ll go with you if you promise to give me back my portal chip. You can’t expect me to go with a stranger I just met. I mean, did you not just see what I’m dealing with?”
I was stunned when he pulled it from his pocket and handed it over.
“It’s tedious to have to chase you down just to talk to you. That’s the only reason I took it from you because you kept wanting to use it to get away from me.”
I closed my mouth for a moment and opened it to say something when he gave me a devilish smile.
“Fear not, Izzie. Wherever you go, I’ll be able to find you. Not that it won’t be tiresome, but all I have to do is picture you in my head, and I’ll know exactly where you are.” He winked.
I blushed. Again.
How was that possible? What all could Reapers do?
And why did everything come back to being tiresome with this guy?
“Now, about the no touching…”
“It’s final.”
He huffed. “The only way I can fade with you is to touch you.”
“Fade?”
“I don’t need a portal chip,” he answered quickly. His eyes still searching and waiting for me to give him the okay about what he was most worried about—touching.
“You don’t have to touch my skin. You can grab my shoulder.” I patted my shoulder still covered in the plain white t-shirt I wore.
He looked like a puppy that had been denied a treat. He finally nodded and placed his hand around my waist instead of my shoulder. I momentarily stiffened and waited to see what he planned to do. As his hand reached for mine, I glared.
“Sebastian,” I warned.
He gave me a sheepish grin. “Yes, Izzie?”
Squinting at him, I waited to see if he knew I wouldn’t fall for his tricks. Sebastian nodded before slipping us into a dark tunnel, racing through streams of various dark colors. I left the last bit of things I owned beside the road and let a stranger from the Underworld take me elsewhere.
Then real
ization hit. I didn’t want to go back to the Underworld. Where was my brain?
A light chased out the darkness, and then we were standing in a place that couldn’t have been the Underworld. There was just no way. It was too beautiful, too bright and colorful. Literally. The trees weren’t green, they were multi-colored. There were pinks and oranges, purples and blues. It looked like a realistically breathtaking version of some cartoon in the human world. It made me think of the fairy tale books I’d lose myself in as a kid to escape the harsh training of the Wen family.
For a brief moment, I lost the image of my fairy tales and was sucked into a bitter memory. The day I realized what all my training was for. It had never been about family tradition. It was about making me stronger for what came next. They gave me away to a monster. They already had three more daughters before me. Giving me away was no problem. They didn’t love me. They were strict and cruel and oh so harsh.
Perfect preparation for Julius.
And now they were gone.
Turned to ashes.
Dirt.
I had to believe they were bad to accept they were gone.
“Izzie.” My name on Sebastian’s lips pulled me from my reverie.
I lifted my head to look up at him. Concern and intensity greeted me. What kind of frown must have I been wearing for him to look at me that way? I didn’t understand this Reaper. Was it normal for him to help others? Or was I in the hands of a new monster? I wish I could trust someone, something, but some days I didn’t even trust myself.
“Yeah?”
His gaze seared mine. “You don’t know me. I don’t know anything other than what any Reaper knows about anyone. I know your name, I know that you’re a witch, and I know your birth and death date.”
Death date? That was… unsettling.
“But you can trust me.” Then he smiled. It was radiant and impossibly huge compared to the squint in his eyes. He looked devious. “And then, when you trust me, we can discuss the no touching.”
“Really?” Unbelievable.
“This is a serious problem among friends. Friends touch.”
I bit back a groan as he started on the touching thing again. “You don’t befriend someone just so you can touch them.”
Bewitching Sloth Page 4
