I pull my crystals out from under my shirt, moving my blankets down as I do. I’m not satisfied until I see them reflecting some unseen light in the room. Or maybe Arsen’s eyes. I try to focus on their warmth.
Arsen stays at the foot of my bed as he says, “You sure seem to have a thing for crystals. I must not have been paying attention last time I saw you, or that white diamond is new. Which is it?”
“What does it matter?” I ask.
“I suppose it doesn’t,” he replies, staring me down. “I went back to Reverie not too long ago. I thought I might find some information about you there.”
“Okay?” I say, pulling my blanket back up to my face.
“I met an old woman. She knew things about you and Cassius. Cassius gave her a command that made it so she couldn’t help but look after you, even if it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Did you know about that? Did you know angels and demons have the power to make humans do whatever they want?”
“You mean how you can look inside souls? Only if the human allows you to,” I retort.
Arsen nods his head. “Then you know that angel, Cassius, has been orchestrating all of this.”
“I know Cassius works under some divine power. I know he saved me. And I know that he’s kind. Unlike you.”
“I suppose that depends on whose side you’re looking at,” he snarls. “That’s what people say anyway.”
“There is only one right way to look at it. Demons are nothing but evil. You don’t have any light inside of you. That’s why Cassius has to keep you under control back in the immortal world. That’s why we have to get rid of you here. Humans get to choose good or evil. We aren’t predestined to be one way like you are,” I defend. “He showed me.”
Arsen clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “The oracle has even taken you to Ilenima? Fascinating.” He cocks head like a dog. “You know what else the old woman told me? She said that there’s a piece of your soul inside of me. I suppose she didn’t say soul specifically, but she did say our auras are similar. She said I feel like you. If that’s true, then it’s impossible for me to be completely dark like you were saying. If I have a piece of you inside of me, that means I have some light.”
“Yeah, my light,” I say. “Except you don’t have a piece of me inside of you. That would be ridiculous. We just have some sort of bond that ties us together. And even if there was a piece of me inside of you, it would still be me. It has nothing to do with you.”
“You think so?”
“Come here,” I say. I’m feeling more determined than I was before to look into his eyes now. I feel like there are answers inside of them.
Arsen drops his hands at his sides. “Try being more specific,” he drones.
“You heard me,” I say. “Come here. I want to see your eyes.”
Shrugging, Arsen places his hands at the foot of my bed, and then he crawls on top of the bed. He’s careful not to touch me, but now he’s moving over me. He’s right. I should have been more specific. I ignore the butterflies pounding in my stomach. I’m about to discover something. It’s so close. I can almost see it, but I feel like it’s slipping away as my crystals grow hot against my chest. Whatever it is.
I hold my breath and bite my lower lip when Arsen’s face is directly over mine. He isn’t touching me, but he’s so close. I’m reminded again just how large he is compared to me. I never felt short or petite like I do now. I try to stop thinking about all of that. I tear my eyes away from his huge arms at either side of my head, and lock my gaze onto his vibrant green eyes. A hint of attraction and those soft, even loving, feelings I’ve felt for him before come back. I feel it in the quickening pace of my heartbeat. Then, as fast as the feelings come on, they go away as my crystals burn hotter.
No longer anxious, I search his otherworldly eyes for some sort of clue. They somehow look different than they did the first night I met him. What I thought was familiar is unknown. All I feel is disdain. And now I can’t even appreciate the beauty of his eyes.
How could I have thought that looking into his eyes would’ve told me anything? Of course it won’t. There’s nothing for me to see anyway. I already know what’s going on between us. We have a bond of some sort, a bond created by the God, and that’s all there is to it.
“Get a good look?” Arsen asks.
“Yeah, now leave. Get off me,” I order, anger welling up inside of me.
He hesitates. His eyes shimmer, and his lips downturn slightly. He lifts his left hand and brushes his fingers across my cheek.
I shudder at his touch, and I scream, “I said get away from me!”
I feel a rush of wind. One minute Arsen’s there, and the next he’s gone. He vanishes like a ghost.
BLADE SENT OUT a team yesterday to check Arsen’s information about the demon named Uden. She didn’t bother making Arsen a part of that team. I asked her about it after the team came back. She said she doesn’t know how a demon’s presence or senses work other than they are extremely powerful, but she didn’t want to tip Uden off by bringing any angels or Arsen for reconnaissance. Apparently, Arsen’s information was specific enough that it wasn’t a problem for the hunters to find the Mermaid Pub, so him not being a part of the team didn’t end up being a problem. The hunters confirmed everything he said about the area, but not Uden himself because they didn’t risk getting close and tipping him off to the attack we’re planning.
I know what Blade said, but I get the feeling the real reason why she felt the need to send out that recon team yesterday was because she didn’t trust Arsen’s information. I can’t blame her for that, but I wonder how much the information she got is even going to help. I think it’s interesting the oracle allowed her to spend yesterday doing an almost pointless activity as well. Maybe he didn’t completely believe in Arsen’s information either, but apparently he wasn’t worried enough to go confirm Uden’s presence for himself. I wasn’t in the loop much because I ended up spending yesterday with Tasia, just like I did the previous evening. Today, however, we’re back in the Command Center, getting filled in on everything.
“So that’s the gist of it,” Blade says. “Now we’re going to send a team out to capture Uden.”
“Capture?” Tasia asks.
“Yes,” Blade says as she taps her fingers against the table in the center of the room, displaying the distant pictures her team took outside of the Mermaid Pub as well as a map of the area; it looks as isolated as Arsen said it is. “We’ve decided it would be best to capture the demon. If he really is an informant as Arsen says, we should be able to get a lot of leads out of him.”
“Good luck with that,” Arsen says.
“I will be coming as well,” Cassius informs, silencing Arsen immediately. “My primary role will be as an observer, but should my assistance be required, I will step in.”
“Yes, everyone here will be on the team to bring Uden in,” Blade informs.
“A team will only get in the way,” Arsen interjects. “You should send me and Tasia in alone. We would be more than enough.”
I see his fangs gleaming as his lips curl up into a devious smile. The action makes me bristle. The last thing I want is Arsen alone with Tasia—even though the two of them are more or less a package deal now. I doubt anybody would feel comfortable at the base if Arsen was here and Tasia wasn’t.
I glance at Tasia, sitting beside me at the table. She’s looking at Arsen on the other end. I feel a small sense of relief as she scoots closer to me and gently places her hand in my lap. The action isn’t lost on Arsen either. He sends a glare my way that would make me feel pretty unsettled if I didn’t know he was contained. There’s no real threat behind the look he’s giving me. I haven’t forgotten the last time I grappled with him, though. It hurt.
“Arsen, you seem eager to go,” Divya comments. “Don’t you care about your own kind at all?”
He shrugs.
Divya stands abruptly, causing all eyes to turn on her. She storms out of the ro
om the next second, and she slams the door behind her. I know I’m not the only one wondering what that was about. The only one it doesn’t seem to bother is Arsen, who doesn’t even look her way.
Blade stands up next. “Everyone get ready to go,” she says, “and I’ll gather the rest of the team. We’ll meet in the garage.”
We’re bringing two vans. One van is full of hunters that Blade hand-picked. The other has me, Tasia, Arsen, the oracle, Blade, and Donovan. Ever since Blade gave us the overview about what she has planned to happen, Arsen has been rather quiet. He’s sitting in the back of the van with his arms folded as he stares out the window. Tasia is sitting by me, and she’s acting a bit nervous. She’s calm, but the way she’s holding my hand, just a little bit tighter, as if seeking reassurance, makes me think she’s feeling at least a little bit of her anxiety again.
Arsen speaks, “I know you have this big plan to capture Uden, sending a team of hunters inside to occupy him and force him out to some trap you’ll have set up on the beach, but it really would be better if I went in there by myself, or with only a couple of hunters who aren’t in armor, so Uden doesn’t know anything. He wouldn’t be suspicious of me coming to his place to get some information. I’d be able to get a hold of him before he even knew what happened. If you send me in there with a bunch of armed hunters, and especially an angel, it’ll be one big mess.” He growls.
“Are you actually being helpful?” Tasia remarks as she snuggles just a little bit closer to me. “Because that idea actually makes sense to me. But in order for it to work, I’d have to be one of the humans that goes in there with you.”
“What? You don’t trust me?” Arsen asks with his eyebrows raised. “I’m hurt.”
“Absolutely not,” Blade says as she violently turns the van onto another road.
“Do you want people to die or would you rather prevent it?” Arsen asks. “I’m way more powerful than that damn informant. I can restrain him and bring him over to your little angel-planned-out trap and nobody will have to get hurt.”
“Please, Fiona,” Tasia says.
The oracle comments, “Listen to Tasia. If she feels this is best, allow her to do it. She knows what she’s talking about.”
“There, you see? Even the oracle agrees,” Arsen remarks. “And we always do what the oracle says, don’t we?”
The oracle doesn’t react to Arsen’s goading. He believes in Tasia’s power in this connection between her and Arsen. Or he feels this is the perfect opportunity to test it.
“Are you sure about this, Tasia?” I ask.
“I’m sure,” she says.
Blade slams her fist down on the steering wheel. “Fine,” she concedes. “But I’m the other hunter. It’ll be Tasia, me, and Arsen. Everyone else will either be waiting to trap Uden with the silver chains Cassius provided or on standby. Be ready to jump in if Arsen should lose control of Uden at any moment. You really think you can handle Uden yourself, demon?”
“Yes, easily. He won’t be suspecting anything from me.”
He says it so confidently and that makes me uneasy. I ask, “Are you telling the truth?”
Arsen continues staring out the window. “Of course I’m telling the truth, angel. Uden won’t suspect a thing from me. If the hunters are ready and waiting, we’ll be able to overpower and capture him. Just make sure you don’t stand too close, angels. If Uden catches a whiff of angel, he’ll know something’s up.”
“So be it,” the oracle says. “We will observe from a safe distance.”
I’m not thrilled to think of Tasia in some demon’s pub with Arsen and Blade as her only backup, but I don’t voice my concerns. The oracle isn’t worried, and Tasia says she wants to do this. She’s already proved to me that she can. It’s time I put my complete faith in her.
The rest of the ride to Cape May, New Jersey is rather quiet. We park the vans out of sight, and we walk to the beach to set up. That’s when I have to say goodbye to Tasia. I give her a big hug.
“Be safe,” I say.
“I will be,” she says as she squeezes me back. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
I wish I could go in there with her, but with the change of plans, sounds like I probably won’t be working alongside her at all—depending on how this goes. Blade informs the other hunters of what they are to do. They have their silver chains ready and hide behind some large rocks a distance away from the Mermaid Pub, where Arsen is supposed to take Uden to the trap. These silver chains were brought from Ilenima. They’re heavy-duty, thick and thin, spiked and smooth. There are even silver bars with a pointed end. I’ve never seen these kinds of restraints before, and judging by the look Arsen has been giving them, he hasn’t either. The oracle is the only one here who knows how to properly use them. That’s part of why he’s here today, to guide the hunters in how to restrain a demon.
The pub is clear in the distance, but apparently we aren’t close enough to tip the demon off with our angelic presence. It makes sense when it comes to my aura, but I worry about the oracle’s. His presence is much greater than mine.
I retreat back to the oracle and the hunters on standby as I watch Tasia, Blade, and Arsen make their way to the pub. I wonder if they should stagger when they come in. This place is so isolated I doubt that Uden gets multiple visitors at a time very often, especially two humans with a demon. I suppose Arsen knows what he’s doing though. He knows what Tasia expects of him. That’s all this takes, right? Tasia is the one in control.
I sure hope she’s the one in control.
“How long do you think it will take?” I ask the oracle.
“Not long,” he says, never taking his eyes off of the group, even as they disappear inside of the pub.
I feel like talking any more would be intruding on the oracle’s focus, so I don’t. Does he really think this is going to be easy? I want him to quell my fears, but I have to still my fears on my own. I have to wait and see what happens with everyone else. I need to be ready to jump into action.
I start pacing back and forth. I know it’s only been a few minutes, but it feels like it’s already been a half hour. I feel like things are taking too long. I need to be in there. Fear is rising from the base of my stomach and into my heart, making it beat faster. This feeling. I’ve felt it before. Tasia needs my help. She’s not coping. Something’s wrong.
I’m about to open my mouth to tell the oracle just that when Arsen comes shooting out of a window in a spray of glass as he lands on his back in the sand and slides across the beach.
“Bastard!” a male screams.
The side of the Mermaid Pub facing the ocean explodes as a long, skinny creature with blue slimy skin bursts out of the pub, onto the beach, and into the water all at once. It has one large continuous fin lining its spine; it’s like some kind of water serpent. It’s at least 50 feet long, and it’s fast, already disappearing into the ocean as its large finned tail slaps against the beach.
Every muscle in my body tenses as I rush forward. The oracle started moving before I even got the chance to. I make it to the water’s edge after the oracle. The oracle dashes for the serpent’s tail, but the demon is ready for him. He hits the oracle with his tail hard enough to send the oracle flying backwards, and then his tail follows his body and submerges completely into the ocean. Unlike Arsen, the oracle manages to maneuver in the air, and he lands on his feet, but he’s still sent sliding back with the force of the hit.
I shift after throwing off my clothes. My polar bear body hits the icy water. I’d be freezing in my human body, but this body likes cold temperatures. I swim forward as fast as I can, diving deeper into the ocean. Now that I have eyes on the demon again, I can see him disappearing into the dark depths beyond. I’m certain he isn’t planning on coming back. He’s running away. He’ll be out of range within minutes. His speed is insane. I come back up to the surface and look right at the oracle. I shake my big head, hoping he gets the message.
The oracle holds out both of his
hands as he concentrates on the ocean. He’s capturing the element. I haven’t seen this many times before, but I know what it is: magic. Almost immediately, the ocean waves lapping against the shore grow larger, like a storm is blowing on the ocean, but there is no storm. The oracle is pulling the water in. He’s even controlling it so he’s not flooding the entire beach, but I can feel the strong current pushing me back onto the shore. As soon as my paws hit the sand, I step to the side so I won’t be in the way. There’s nothing more I can do.
Arsen, Tasia, and Blade gather around the oracle on the beach along with the rest of the hunters.
“You planned this, Arsen!” The oracle accuses over the sound of rushing waters.
The ocean has grown. There’s a tempest of water rushing toward us and an invisible wall keeping the water from hitting us. The oracle is literally trying to drag the serpent back to the shore. I know he is powerful, but the serpent is huge, and he already got a great head start. Is this is even going to work?
“I didn’t,” Arsen replies calmly, though his voice somehow carries over the sounds of crashing waves. “How could I have planned this when I didn’t know his beast?”
“You told him something,” the oracle insists as he trembles with his concentration.
I see Tasia wringing her hands, a nervous habit I haven’t seen in a while. “I’m sorry, Cassius,” she says. “I couldn’t stop him. I don’t know what happened.”
“Don’t worry about that now,” the oracle says. “Command Arsen to shift and help me bring this demon back in.”
“Surely you know my beast is not suited for the water,” Arsen snaps.
“Neither is mine,” the oracle replies, his teeth grinding. “Get into the sky and do something.”
Tasia is frozen. I don’t know where I left my clothes and shifting right now would probably only make her more uncomfortable. As it is, my polar bear will have to do. I rush to her side. Luckily, I don’t scare her. She immediately wraps her arms around me, despite my sopping wet fur, as she shakes. She swallows hard.
The Pull of Destiny (Undying Love, Book 2) Page 23
