The Chosen Knights

by Mary Ting

  “What does it do?” Zach asked, peering over Uncle Davin’s shoulder.

  Eli looked behind him and then back to us. “It freezes the being you stab. It’s painful, but it won’t kill, unless you twist the dagger a full turn.”

  Uncle Davin’s rubbed the back of his head. “How do you propose we get this dagger from Cyrus? He’s not going to just hand it over.”

  Eli patted Uncle Davin’s arm. “That’s where you come in. You’re the adult here, not me. I brought Lucia home safe and sound before midnight. Now I’m going home.”

  Eli winked at me and headed for his bike.

  “You got a ride on that bike?” Zach was awestruck. “What was that like?”

  “Almost like flying.” I watched Eli put on his helmet and get on the bike.

  “See you later, Mr. P,” Eli said after the engine came to life.

  “See you in class, Elmo. And don’t call me Mr. P.”

  “Then don’t call me Elmo. Elmo is red with a big orange nose and white eyeballs bulging out. Do I look like that to you?” He chuckled.

  “Yeah, well, maybe.” Uncle Davin couldn’t help but crack a smile. “By the way, great finding. At least someone did his homework. Next time it’s your bike and me.”

  “If you can catch me.” Eli’s chuckle vibrated through me in the most pleasant way. The engine thundered as he sped away faster than humanly possible to travel by motorcycle. A spark fluttered in the pit of my stomach and I released a soft sigh.

  Chapter 31

  Rather than being fun, shopping for a dress was a nightmare. Not because Milani and Vanessa couldn’t get along, but because they couldn’t decide which dress to buy. They had tried on countless dresses. To my surprise, Vanessa and Milani were actually cordial to each other. Maybe it was due to the craziness with Cyrus. Regardless, it was nice to see them get along. Finally, after what seemed like the entire day, we were all set.

  I had convinced Milani to wear a strapless red dress that trailed down to the floor. Vanessa picked a blue one that complimented her eyes. Hers hugged her form snugly.

  As for me, though I’d persuaded everyone to stay away from black, I ended up with a black dress. The design was exquisite. Not only was it strapless, which was perfect if I needed to open my wings, the sparkling crystals on top of soft velvet made it seem like it was worth a million bucks. The fact the store only had my size gave me first dibs.

  Uncle Davin and my brother were handsome in their black tuxes. I couldn’t believe how human they looked.

  “I don’t understand why I have to wear this,” Zach fussed, rolling his shoulders. “I have too many clothes on. I’m going to bust right out of it when I release my wings.”

  Uncle Davin gazed at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His chin was tilted up proudly. “I think I look pretty good. Your mother told me once how handsome I looked.” He shifted his body from side to side to get a view of himself from all angles.

  I patted his back. “You do.” I’d heard stories of how bravely my uncle had battled side by side with my parents, but tonight I worried about him. He didn’t have the support of angels, who he usually went to battle with, next to him. He only had us and the others who we didn’t fully trust.

  “You’re going to break that mirror if you keep ogling yourself, Uncle,” Zach teased, adjusting his black bowtie.

  Uncle Davin stopped and raised a brow. “Yeah, you’re not funny. While you’ll look ridiculous fighting with a half-torn shirt, I’ll be doing it in style.”

  “If you say so, Uncle.” Zach snorted and walked out.

  I loved to hear them joking and laughing, but I was a nervous wreck. My brother had the same apprehension I did, but he could tease my uncle and enjoy this moment. The night before we’d had a long gathering to work out our strategy. I hoped the plan was good enough to outsmart Cyrus.

  Uncle Davin caught me off guard. “You, my dear, are absolutely stunning. I wish your parents were here to see how both of you are dressed. Actually, maybe that’s not a good idea.” He chuckled. “But seriously, Lucia, I’m going to have to keep my eye on you. Abel better not try anything.”

  “Uncle”—I stopped him by placing my finger on his lips—“nothing is going to happen. He’s not my...” I was going to say type, but wasn’t sure what that meant anyway. “Don’t worry. Nothing is going on or ever will. I don’t like him that way, so don’t worry,” I stressed. “Please, I walk like a duck in these heels. Why do girls do this to themselves? It feels so awkward. Well, I won’t be wearing them for sure if we end up in a battle.”

  “Okay.” He kissed me on the cheek and then checked the clock. “It’s showtime.”

  Two limos with black tinted windows were parked in the driveway. Abel and Vanessa came out of the first limo, and Brody and Milani came out of the second. Where was Eli?

  Everyone looked amazing. It was hard to fathom that besides our lives, human lives were at stake. We were supposed to be having fun at one of the most joyous occasions for high school students. But for supernatural beings, it was going to be hell.

  We didn’t know what we would be up against. I doubted that Cyrus would come alone. We were strong in numbers at the beach, but Cyrus hadn’t been there. I’d seen what he could do. He moved trees with his mind and had control over all Possessor demons, but I got the impression the ones that flowed in and out of his body were different.

  Obviously, by the expressions on the others’ long faces they were worried, and I didn’t blame them. The night sky was as ominous and gloomy as I felt, with no twinkling stars or moonlight. I prayed it wasn’t an omen.

  “Hi, beautiful,” Abel greeted me. His eyes were twinkling, and his lips spread to a wide grin. He was debonair wearing a black tux. “You look—” Abel stiffened.

  “She looks hands off. Got it?” Uncle Davin pushed him back and gave him his dorky playful yet serious grin, the kind that even I couldn’t tell what it meant.

  Uncle Davin moved from one limo to the next, assessing everyone. “Have the girls thought about what they’re going to do if we end up in a battle?”

  Vanessa gave a light snort. “Don’t worry, Mr. President. We’ve got this. We just rip off the bottom half of the dresses. And these heels, they don’t feel so good in a demon’s gut.”

  Uncle Davin seemed satisfied with the answer. Then he stood in front of Abel. “Is Jack in good hands? You’ve got your friends guarding his house, right?”

  “Don’t worry, Mr. President. I’ve got this handled,” Abel reassured him with a cocky grin.

  “I guess we’re all set.” Uncle Davin looked away and mumbled a few words to himself as if to go through a list in his mind. “I gave the page to Eli last night and...” His voice lowered to the point I couldn’t hear. “Then let’s get going,” Uncle Davin ordered, looking vigilant.

  Excitement filled the air. The gym had been transformed into a fairytale dream come true. Ribbons and balloons were hung every way I looked. A white Cinderella carriage covered in glowing lights occupied one corner of the room. The line of couples and friends to have photographs taken was already long. In another section sat Snow White’s cottage in the forest with seven cardboard dwarfs. And a small bridge with a castle background, which had been hand painted on a long piece of butcher paper, stood at the far back. Couples lined up to have pictures taken on the bridge.

  Most of the students were dancing. I had to adjust my hearing powers. The bass hummed the beat of the loud music against my chest and vibrated throughout my body. It made me want to dance a little.

  “What do we do?” Milani asked, pulling her dark hair away from her face. She had dyed her hair to match her dress. It was parted in the middle with a long red streak down each side. Though she looked stunning, she was obviously uncomfortable in the dress by the way she kept adjusting it. She held her head angled to the ground, avoiding eye contact, and stayed close to Brody.

  “We do what humans do best. Mingle.” Uncle Davin suddenly seemed cheerful. He had to beca
use we all looked like we had seen death. “Keep your ears and eyes open. Eli is arranging the handoff. Everything should be just fine if we all do our part. All right, go have fun until further notice.”

  When Eli’s group of friends showed up, Milani and Brody went to their side of the room where the other Elementa were. While Uncle Davin circulated among the staff, Vanessa, Zach, Abel, and I headed for the dance floor.

  Zach and I weren’t the best dancers, but we managed to imitate humans convincingly. We just had to move with the rhythm. Crossroads didn’t have anything like this grand party, but we’d danced with our parents and Uncle Davin for fun. Thank goodness it wasn’t our first time.

  When the music slowed down, Abel looped his arms around my waist and scooped me closer to him. I raised my hands to his shoulders and let him guide me.

  “Thanks for coming to the homecoming dance with me, even though I know you’d rather have come with someone else,” he said.

  “What?” It was the only word at the tip of my tongue. Then the air suddenly seemed lighter. Eli walked through the door alone, dressed in a black tux. I almost didn’t recognize him, but my heart did. It raced relentlessly, no matter what I did to calm down. My breath hitched and I couldn’t breathe. He had stolen my air and he wasn’t even near me.

  Eli hadn’t seen me yet, so I took the time to marvel at him. His presence captured the eyes of the girls nearby. Though he seemed oblivious to this, a part of me grew a bit jealous when he appeared to be searching for someone. When his eyes found me, he looked no further. They narrowed as if I were his prey. He didn’t offer any acknowledgment. Instead, he stood there with his hands in his pants pockets, like a statue of a god for girls to drool over.

  I forced myself to turn to Abel. “I mean, I said yes to you. Of course I would go with you.” I couldn’t look him in the eye. Truthfully, he was right, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

  “I know we can’t have a relationship—I knew the second I found out you were an angel,” he continued.

  “I’m half,” I stressed. “I’m not perfect but neither is any angel.”

  “Nor any one of us.” He sighed. “Sometimes we do what we know is best even if it means we might lose a friend. To sacrifice one is better than losing...more.”

  Why was he saying this to me? “Is everything all right? Are you trying to tell me something, Abel?”

  He didn’t answer me, even when I gazed into his eyes. He just stared at Eli. Abel’s nonsense words scared me, especially when his eyes showed guilt.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Abel continued. “Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions for the good of others. You can’t save them all, but you can try.” Abel turned to me. His eyes were like fireflies glowing under the spotlights dancing across the room. “I’m not a monster, Lucia. I try my best to be a good leader. All of us have a demon inside that whispers to us to do things we know we shouldn’t. Sometimes I don’t know if I do things because I think they’re right or for other reasons—revenge, jealousy. These emotions have been caged deep inside and are begging to be set free.”

  Abel placed his hands on my face. For a second I thought he was about to kiss me. He was trying to tell me something with his bold stare, but I couldn’t get the gist of it.

  “Abel. What is it?” I sputtered. I was worried for him, but I didn’t know what to do.

  In the middle of the dance floor, under a spotlight, we stood there as I tried to read his expression. We’d stopped slow dancing when Eli walked in. Was he afraid of Cyrus? Surely that couldn’t be the reason he was acting strange.

  He placed his forehead against mine. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I’ve done anymore.”

  My heart raced at his urgent words. He was trying to tell me something. “Abel.” I shook him to force him to look at me. “Please tell me. What have you done? Does this have anything to do with Cyrus?”

  Abel placed his lips on mine. It was soft and short and unexpected. “I believe that will be the first and the last kiss. Forgive me, Lucia. I mean no harm to anyone. You have no idea of our history here. It’s quite complicated. I’m going to take care of a few things. Wait here.”

  “Abel?” Did I need to say something about Abel? Surely we were on the same team.

  “Shhh.” Abel placed a finger on my lips. “Stay here.”

  When Abel left me, I used my angel vision to search for Zach and Uncle Davin. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the dance except me, until he appeared in my sight again.

  Moving like a model on a catwalk, he strutted toward me with his eyes focused on mine. He owned the stage...owned me.

  “Eli?” I breathed, taking in his grandeur.

  Instead of greeting me or asking me to dance, he embraced me. “God, I missed you,” he cooed against my ear, his lips brushing my face. “I want to hold you like this forever and never let go.”

  At that moment, I realized I felt the same way. And though I’d tried not to, I had fallen in too deep. We had no need for words. He held me tenderly in his arms until the music changed.

  “You look—” he started to say, his eyes roaming over me from head to toe.

  I got nervous so I interjected, “Yeah...you too.” I smiled shyly, knowing he was about to say beautiful. His tux formed to his body perfectly. Though I couldn’t see his ripped muscles like when he wore a T-shirt, his broad shoulders framed him well. He was firm and fit in all the right places.

  “Your dress is perfect. You look like a princess.”

  I twisted a loose strand of hair around my ear. “I don’t walk like one in these.” I lifted my dress so he could see my heels.

  Eli chuckled. “Those are sexy.” He waggled his brows.

  He did not just say that to me. I let go of the dress to hide my heels.

  “It’s too loud in here. I don’t want to share you with anyone. Want to step outside for ten minutes? That’s all the time we have until showtime.” Though Eli had asked for my permission, he was already tugging me out the door.

  We snuck out through the back exit and the wind softly brushed against me. I knew it must be cold when Eli trembled.

  “Is it cold?” I asked.

  His eyes grew in curiosity, as he leaned closer to me, evidently amused by my question. “No, I’m not cold. It doesn’t get that cold in Hawaii. Wait, you can’t feel cold?”

  “No.” I shook my head. I leaned back and placed my hands on the wall to anchor my suddenly weak knees. “I mean, I know what it is. I can feel it, but it could be freezing and it wouldn’t affect me.”

  Eli’s eyes grew playful and twinkled under the parking lot lamplight. “Can you feel heat?” He brushed his lips against my neck.

  My body flattened against the wall. “Yes,” I whimpered. My breath fluttered out of me like music vibrating a beautiful melody. “I mean...no. It depends on what you mean by”—I swallowed—“ummm, heat.”

  His hands were mounted to the wall above my head, caging me in. “So you can’t feel temperature heat, but you can feel the lust kind of heat?” He moved away from my neck and his lips twisted into a sexy smirk. He enjoyed my coming undone way too much. “You don’t sleep. You don’t really eat. You can’t feel temperature. Kind of cool in a way, girl with wings. So before we have to act like superheroes, why don’t I produce some heat for you to get all warmed up?”

  Eli leaned in closer, making me dizzy. All I could think about was his lips on mine. A soft breath fluttered from me when he tenderly caressed my cheeks.

  “Promise me you’ll stay by my side. I know you can take care of yourself, but I need to know you’re safe. I’ll be worrying about you the whole time.”

  “I will.” I tried to smile, but I was lost in his dark raven eyes. “And you have to be careful too. I know you want your revenge, but don’t let that drive you to do something foolish.”

  His eyes became softer and somehow different. Like when you’ve known a person for a while, like a best friend, and you’ve seen their inner pain, shared a d
ark secret, shared so much. Even when he touched me, the feeling was somehow different from before. When he dropped his hands to lace his fingers with mine, they felt familiar, as if they were my own skin.

  “I won’t.” Eli squeezed my hands. “I have something to live for, even if we can’t be together. At least we’ll be under the same stars. For now, I can pretend you’re mine. But you scare me more than anything because if something were to happen to you, it would break me.”

  I inhaled a deep breath. His words were like a sweet poem to me. “I—”

  “It’s okay. You don’t have to say a word. You remember the plan, right? Stick to the plan.”

  My eyes fell to his necklace and then mine, recalling how powerful they were. It boggled my mind how such delicate crystals could hide us from Cyrus and the demons the way they had when Eli and I were alone.

  Eli assessed my face as if to memorize it. “My mother would have liked you, you know.” He continued, “She might have freaked out when she found out you had wings though.” Eli chuckled softly. “I don’t believe you are my destruction. You can’t be. It’s impossible; you are my salvation. When my mother died, I was lost. Milani and Brody were there for me, and I’m so grateful for them. But when you came along, something came alive in me. I found another reason to live. I found something good within me. I found hope. I found you, and I found...us.”

  “Eli,” I muttered, stroking his hair, loving everything he’d said.

  “I need you to know how I feel in case something happens. I know it’s bad to think that way, but life is unpredictable. I regret not telling my mother how much I loved her. I know I promised I’d try my best not to kiss you, but I want to so—”