For the past week, every time I perceived someone watching me, the sensation seemed to increase whenever I turned and stared at that freaking door.
Though I could have sworn I saw something move, there was no one there that I could see. Everything was still quiet, as it always was. However, that unusual feeling of being watched did not evaporate. It only augmented.
At first, when I began to feel as if someone was watching me, it had been so quick at times I doubted it ever happened. But as the days passed and I continued to perceive it, I was sure I was being watched every morning. Whoever or whatever was out there never showed itself.
Squinting slightly as I looked down the hall, I began to move toward the door, which is something I hadn’t thought to do before now. For some reason I decided to closely inspect the area near my neighbor’s apartment.
Almost as if they had a mind of their own, my feet began to move in that direction, and as I inched closer, I realized the door wasn’t shut all the way, but left slightly ajar. It was the first time I’d seen the door like that and it really spiked my interest. Something was definitely out of place and I aimed to find out what.
Slowly, as if moving quickly would scare off whatever was out there, I passed by the door to my apartment as my feet continued to move forward. As I traveled the short distance from one door to the other, I remained cautious. Something dangerous could pop out of nowhere and attack me. I had to be prepared just in case. The scene with the giant hand appearing out of nowhere to grab a hold of me was freshly tucked in the back of my head and brought out my protective instincts.
The closer I got to the neighbor’s door, the more I realized something was wrong. The feeling of being watched increased to such a degree it affected my ability to walk in a straight line. I stumbled once and had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling. I even forgot to count my steps, keeping my sole focus on my surroundings and any potential threat.
When I finally reached the wooden doorway however, I noted there were no noises coming from within the apartment, and though the door was probably open about an inch, I could see it was dark inside, too. Stopping to listen for any noise that would alert me that there was someone inside, I just stood there and listened.
It struck me as odd that the place was extremely quiet and since I had no idea whether there had been a break-in or something, I reached for the door with one hand, taking a fighting stance in case there was something or someone waiting to trap me.
The tips of my fingers grazed the door, which slowly opened another inch. When the door creaked a little, I snatched my hand back and waited for a second or two for something to happen. My sense of hearing tried to pick up on any sounds that indicated someone was moving about, but all was silent. There were no sounds. No strange noises. No sign anyone was inside at all.
I wondered if my neighbors had been attacked and if I should call the police or my parents, but something told me to hold back and wait.
Focusing on getting the door opened, I extended my arm forward again, but was stopped short when a strong body slammed me against the wall.
In spite of all my training as a witch, I was caught completely off guard by the bulk that pinned me against the solid barrier. In a matter of seconds, I went from trying to figure out why someone would leave their door slightly open to trying to figure out who the stranger gripping my forearms was.
My guarded demeanor broke the second the stranger touched me and an instant case of déjà vu washed over me like a bucket of cold water.
Everything happened so fast I couldn’t even react. Stunned, I just stood there for a moment trying to size up my attacker. Before I even glanced up to look at his face I could tell something was off with him, but because of my nervousness, it was hard to tell for sure. He’d come out of nowhere, and if he intended to kill me, I was easy prey.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a deeply masculine voice growled at me. Fortunately, that same voice helped break me out of my stupor.
I was prepared to see some form of evil glaring down at me, but what I found when I glanced up was definitely not what I was expecting. The handsome stranger staring at me was hot. Not just your average Joe kind of hot. No. This was like the kind of hot that makes a girl want to sin in ways she’d never done before.
His pale skin, tousled, bronze colored hair, and full lips were striking to look at, but his eyes left me completely speechless.
Perfectly round green eyes stared back at me and though they were gorgeous all on their own, it was the few specks of red in his irises that I found beautiful and so unusual. I was left with my mouth hanging open. I’d never seen eyes that color before and no matter how many times my brain yelled at me to look away, I just couldn’t. I was drawn to him. To his unique eyes. To the mystery that shrouded him.
“Are you deaf?” the tone of his voice rose a little more.
“No…no. I-I…was just—” My speech was impaired by his handsomeness and I felt stupid. It wasn’t like he was the first cute guy I’d ever seen. As a matter of fact, I’d broken up with my boyfriend two months ago and he’d been the cutest guy I’d ever seen. Now that this stranger was standing in front of me, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Trying to remedy sounding like an idiot, I frowned a little and said, “Is this your place? Do you live here?” He seemed familiar, but I wasn’t entirely certain of anything by this point. My mind could just be toying with me because of my frazzled nerves and maybe I’d never seen him before in my life.
The one thing that really bothered me—aside from his sudden appearance—was the fact that I didn’t live up to my own expectations and even though he might not know it, I did. And that was enough for me. I should have anticipated something like this. Hadn’t the dream been enough of a warning? Was it even a warning? Hell, I had no clue. I was confused and utterly pissed off with myself for allowing him to take advantage of a moment of distraction to catch me off guard.
The stranger didn’t respond right away. He just stood there and openly gawked at me. And as he took it upon himself to scrutinize me, I did the same. He was a good foot taller than me, was on the leaner side, but had a pair of broad shoulders that could drive a girl crazy. His face was free of blemishes and God Almighty, the aroma emanating from him made my mouth water.
I didn’t know whether to take advantage of the situation and kick him in the nuts or just continue to stand there and take in his magnificence.
He must have had a similar thought because just then his eyes narrowed a bit. “Yes, I live here. Why?”
It wasn’t until he spoke again that I became fully aware of his painful grip on my arms. By then they were practically demanding to be released. He was strong. Much stronger than I thought a guy should be. That observation did little to put my mind at ease. In fact, it only served to convince me this was no ordinary guy. His eyes alone were testimony to that. There was no human on earth that had green-red colored eyes and I was about eighty percent sure he wasn’t human. There was something off with the newcomer; I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Let me go,” I barked, suddenly irritated by how his fingers tightened even more on my arms.
He didn’t move away. Didn’t say a word. But I could practically sense him sizing me up. I definitely felt trapped even though help was but a few feet away.
The stranger transmitted a supernatural vibe that my witch sense picked up, but at the same time I couldn’t tell what he was. I’d been born a witch so I had learned how to identify non-humans over the years. Granted, there were still many preternatural creatures I had never encountered before, and for all I knew, this guy was one of them.
“What are you going to do if I don’t, witch?”
My entire body froze. Just as I suspected, he wasn’t human. And he knew I was a witch. That could turn out to be very bad—for me, anyway.
“Do you really want to find out?” I lifted my chin. Now that I knew my instincts had been correct, I was pissed off. If he
wanted a fight, he was going to get one.
The stranger shrugged. “I’d like to see what you have up your sleeve.”
He pushed against me, making me feel hot and uncomfortable all at the same time. I tried to fight the attraction, especially because he was looking to hurt me, but it was hard not to notice how our bodies touched in all the right places.
Leaning in, he whispered against my right ear, “Show me what you got.”
His self-assured tone aggravated me even more. My anger boiled over and before he could figure out what I was up to, I kneed him in the groin. He groaned and took several steps back. I moved forward and placed my hand on his face so that my ring’s band made contact with his skin. If my current predicament was in any way related to the horrible nightmare, it should burn his skin and keep him at bay long enough for me to attack him with one of my most powerful spells.
Part of our specialty was spell casting. In fact, the Keepers of the Innocent were the crème de la crème when it came to that art. The round ring I always wore was meant to first stun and then burn demons, which opened about a two or three minute window to either counter attack, destroy, or cast another spell.
The charm didn’t work on the stranger and that really rattled me. I could easily tell he wasn’t a werewolf, nor was he vampire. Neither was he a soul devourer since they only attacked at night. He gave me the impression he was a demon, but that theory was now in question since my ring did nothing to him.
“That won’t work on me,” he said, coolly pushing my hand away from his handsome face. “You would need something with a lot more kick.” He calmly walked toward the infamous door I’d been drawn to moments before and pushed it open. “Do you still want to see what’s inside?” He pointed inside with one finger and though I was cautious of him, I did spare a glance inside.
From where I stood, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. The living room, which was the only thing I could see from the hallway, was clean and organized. A couch, two stuffed chairs, a rug, a coffee table, and two side tables were all the furniture I could see.
“Did you know curiosity killed the cat?” And then he hit me with an ultra-sexy smile that made me weak in the knees.
It wasn’t fair. He was too good looking. I had no idea whether I should kick his ass or kiss him.
“What are you?” I asked, keeping my gaze locked on him.
He straightened up for a moment. “I’m a demon.”
He just up and said it as if he wasn’t standing before a witch that had the power to kill him. Well, my charm might not have worked, but a spell could take care of things easily enough.
“And you’re what? Hunting for witches?”
He laughed. The action reached his eyes, making him appear even younger. “I’m not hunting anything. I live here.” He pointed to the open space behind him.
I took a stepped forward, eyes narrowing as I glared at him. “Look, I—”
“Calm down there.” He lifted one hand to signal me to stop. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, sure. As if I would believe—”
He actually rolled his eyes at me. “If you don’t believe me, just cast a truth spell,” he said as he casually crossed his arms over his chest. His awareness of a witch’s spell really unnerved me. He knew more than I would have given him credit for. It was obvious the young, very attractive male standing before me had magical knowledge. Things weren’t looking too good for me.
“Truth spells don’t work on demons,” I spat angrily. I was pissed not only at him but with myself. I’d put my life in danger when my curiosity—or concern over my neighbor’s well-being-won over the caution I should have practiced, and this quickly put me in a sour mood.
The damn guy had the nerve to smile, irking me even more. For a second there I could have sworn he’d just read my mind.
“That may be so, but I’m not just a demon.” Leaning his right shoulder against the doorframe, he tilted his head to the side, and cocked one eyebrow as I waited for him to elaborate.
Up until then I had no idea what his game was. Any other demon would have taken full advantage of me and tried to kill me. Though he had scared me a little at first, he hadn’t tried to hurt me. His behavior was odd. Granted, he was drop dead gorgeous, but his nonchalance was really getting on my nerves.
Then again, I hadn’t confirmed whether he was a demon or not. For all I knew he could be something much worse.
“What do you mean?” I challenged.
He gave me one of those one-shoulder shrugs as he said, “I’m half human.”
My mind instantly recoiled from the thought of any human willingly—no. I refused to even think about it. My God! The possibilities of that being true! What that could mean for humanity. As far as I knew, a human-demon crossbreed was unheard of. Had never happened. Could not happen.
“You’re lying!” I accused. “You’re a demon. Why should I believe anything you say?” It was a well-known fact that demons lied. So I wasn’t about to believe anything this gorgeous guy had to say. Hold on a minute! Gorgeous? What in the world is wrong with me? He’s a demon, for Christ’s sake. Or so he said.
He didn’t even react to my outburst. “You don’t have to believe it if you don’t want. But there are ways for me to prove that I’m half human,” he said. “Your charm didn’t work on me, so that’s a start.”
Damn him. He just had to mention the freaking ring.
I shook my head. “That’s not enough.” We both knew it. Just because my charm failed to burn his alabaster skin didn’t mean he wasn’t one hundred percent demon. He could be protected by a dark spell or could have a magical emblem somewhere on him that would affect the power of my ring.
“Fine. You can put me to the test,” he said. “You’re a witch. I’m sure you have ways to prove whether I’m human or not.”
I chewed on my lower lip for a moment. It was hard for me to tell for sure whether he was trying to goad me into something. And I certainly didn’t want to make a decision that would cost me greatly.
“Don’t you?” he smiled. “Or maybe you’re not trained to do that?” If there was one thing that really got on my nerves it was the way he appeared to be enjoying my obvious discomfort.
“I’m trained enough to take you down!” I retorted quickly.
He had the nerve to chuckle. “All right. Don’t be so defensive.” He shook his head from side to side. “Don’t you have a sense of humor?”
Okay, so being that this guy was actually trying to communicate, I was momentarily stunned. Demons were evil creatures. And they didn’t really stop to chat with you unless they were about to torture you, so I knew something wasn’t quite as it should be. Since when do demons have a sense of humor? And why was he even talking to me?
Why was I even wasting time talking to him?
It was important for me to prove whether or not he was half human as he claimed, because if he was, then that meant demons could be creating a new bloodline, one that could potentially be dangerous to humankind. However, the fact that this stranger was so willing to talk about his origins didn’t sit well with me. What was he looking to accomplish? Was he looking to get killed? No. Somehow I didn’t think he was looking for me to end his existence. What then? What did he want? I was fairly certain he wanted something.
I opened my mouth to ask him but my cell phone buzzed, and although I didn’t reach into my pocket to retrieve it, I knew it had to be Evan. I was running late and I was never late.
“What happened to the blonde woman that lived here?” I asked, recalling one of the few times I’d seen my neighbor. The possibly five foot six, green eyed, Caucasian female had only let herself be seen a handful of times.
The stranger’s voice face sobered up quickly. “My mother passed away a few years ago.”
“Your mother?” the question came out as a squeak. I could hardly hold back the reaction. I mean, his mother? The nice looking woman I’d seen a few times was his blood relative? “The wom
an that lived here was your mother?”
“That’s right. I might be half demon, but I did have a mother, just like you.”
There was a touch of disdain in his tone of voice. His mother was obviously a delicate subject. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop and question him further. I’d wasted too much time on him already and Evan was waiting for me.
Though I had to find out just how much of what this stranger had said was true, it would have to wait until later.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to prove you wrong after all.” Lifting my right hand, I silently recited a few words of an entrapment spell. He glared at me for a moment and tried to move forward but was pushed inside his apartment by unseen forces. He crash landed on the carpet, his face registering shock and disbelief as he looked up at me. “You’ll be unable to leave the apartment until I remove the spell. That is, if I remove the spell.”
He scampered to his feet. “This is completely uncalled for. I’m not going to hurt anybody,” he bellowed. “You don’t need to trap me inside my own home.”
“Oh, I think I do,” I hissed. “Besides, you’re a demon. It’s in your nature to hurt others—”
“Half demon,” he quickly interjected.
I decided to ignore his retort. “And until I can prove whether or not you’re telling the truth, you’ll stay in there where you can’t hurt anyone.” I walked over to the door and grabbed the knob. “I’ll be back, though. You can bet your life on that.”
The last thing I saw before I shut the door was his nasty glare. He was pissed, I could tell, but he was also trapped now. No one could enter or leave the apartment but me. Not even Mom could go in. I intended to keep everyone safe, and until I figured out what to do with him, he was going to remain trapped.
“You’re being ridiculous,” he shouted from the other side of the closed door. “This isn’t necessary.”
Was he kidding me? He’s a demon and he thought that me trapping him inside his apartment isn’t necessary?
Keeper of the Innocents Page 3
