by Livvy Aarons
“So Gretchen was right!” I shouted interrupting Tristan.
His brow bunched, “I should have known that she would come find you and yes, she was telling you the truth. Now may I finish or not?”
Feeling like a scolded child, I capped my excitement then mumbled a “Yes.”
“As I said there is the Inferno Realm, which has seven kingdoms: Luxsuria, Invidia, Gulan, Erantia, Avaritia, Aknoela and Bolgiē. If you must know, Gretchen lived in the kingdom of Invidia or what is referred to as the House of Witches. However, she doesn’t live there anymore and I would highly suggest you do not ask her why.” Tristan looked at me expectantly.
“What—you want me to speak? I’m not a trained seal, dammit! At least they get a hand gesture.” I snapped. “But don’t worry I won’t ask about her again.”
The demon had the nerve to smile at me, “I can use hand gestures if you wish.”
“So can I,” immediately I gave him a middle finger.
Tristan’s grin never faltered. “Anytime, anyplace little girl.” With a wink he continued with our previous discussion. “The second realm is referred to the Phantom Realm, which contains four territories: Mystic Isles, Olympus, Ørlơg and The Badlands. The third realm is the one I know very little about, since my kind is not allowed to go there but it is the Paradise Realm or what humans may call Heaven. The Paradise Realm is broken into three territories: Empyrean, Primum and the Valley of Glory. As I said if you want to know about the Paradise Realm you may want to hit up your buddy Gabriel since he lives there. I am sure I got the names right but that’s where my knowledge ends.”
“Why don’t you live in Luxsuria anymore?” I asked, forgetting about Tristan’s no questions rule.
He looked back towards the sea and his expression turned pained. “It’s none of your concern; nor will it aid you with your problems.”
I continued to watch him, hoping he would give in but he looked a million miles away. “Fine—keep your dirty secrets. What does this have to do with me or my saving Aidan?”
Tristan sighed heavily, “I cannot say that I am one hundred percent but I am almost certain that the demon who is handling Aidan’s contract has bigger plans than just enslaving one measly soul. You see, the more contracts a demon has the more power they can harness and the more power they have the more kingdoms they will rule. I know it sounds very conspiracy theory to you, however I need you to trust me.” Once again, he checked his watch then stood up stretching.
“I can’t trust you Tristan—I believe that you are telling the truth but I cannot afford to trust anyone; not even myself.” I had made the mistake with trusting myself, believing that Aidan would forgive me and the consequences were too painful to repeat.
Tristan’s normally full lips thinned. “We all have regrets McKenna, some of them can make a person stronger and some can rob them of their humanity; only time will tell which one you let take over.” He steel gray eyes turned playful and he decided to change the subject. “Will you at least let me prove my friendship by taking you to the Spring Gala? You can take out your bitterness on my wallet, the sky is the limit.”
My cheeks turned a light pink. “It would be fun to torture Tiffany some more and I don’t have a date…so I guess as long as we are going as friends it would be alright. Friends, agreed?” I stuck out my hand to shake on the agreement; Tristan however took my hand and kissed it with the lightest of touches. When he closed his eyes, I felt a tiny tingle then in a blink we were back at the school. “Whoa. I don’t think I’ll ever get use to that.”
“Yes, well I too am not accustomed to traveling with a carry-on.” He smiled crookedly. Tristan looked as if he was about to say something when his phone chirped. Never taking his eyes from mine he answered, “Yeah.” Whoever was on the other end was yelling. “Relax, I am on the way.” He ended the call then shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Sorry pet but I have some pressing matters to attend to. Here is my credit card,” Tristan planted the gold colored card in my hand. “There is no limit so spend whatever your heart desires.”
“How…” I started to ask him how I could use it without my name being on it but he vanished before I could get it out. Inwardly I shrugged knowing that refusing Tristan was useless and ran to class.
* * * *
The rest of the day flew by until Julie suggested that we go to an extra study period to make up for the classes we were going to miss the next day. I should have known that Tiffany would be attending as well; karma was such a bitch.
“Maybe we should leave.” Julie whispered.
I shook my head, “No—let’s just ignore her.” Tiffany did not scare me and I was not going to run from her. Once we found an area with an empty table we got down to business. When I had nearly forgotten about my lurking nemesis, she came and found me.
“You must think you’re pretty hot shit.” Tiffany hissed, shoving hard on my shoulder. Slowly I turned around to face my opponent, cringing inwardly when I saw that she brought four friends.
Stay out of this Julie—if it gets physical run and get help. I said silently, knowing that Julie was behind me listening. Showing no intimidation I smiled then said, “Obviously I must be considering I took both Tristan and Aidan from you.”
Tiffany didn’t flinch, “Well at least I can say that I wasn’t so bad that Aidan had to leave town or that my mother killed herself just to get away from me.” Her words pierced me like a double edged knife making my chest burn and my fists ball up with rage. She looked satisfied with the pain she inflicted, “Looks like poor little McKenna here is going to cry; how pathetic.” Tiffany began to walk off, laughing at my inner torment.
The bitch had another thing coming if she thought she was going to talk about my mom that way. Giving into the consuming rage, I grabbed a handful of the brittle mop she called hair then yanked as hard as I could.
“OW! Someone get this crazy slut off of me!” Tiffany yelled.
In a split second, two of her groupies had her free and my arms shackled in their own, holding them out beside me. Run Julie! Run! I screamed in my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Julie take off but unfortunately she was tackled and forced into a conference room. The door was then barricaded by a couple of chairs by the other two girls Tiffany had brought with her. I started to thrash violently and kicked as hard as I could, the effort was in vain.
“Hold her steady girls! I’m going to enjoy every minute of this.” Tiffany screeched. Her henchman tightened their grip as she began her assault on my body. She punched me in the face until I could taste blood in my mouth and my eyes hurt to hold them open. When I closed my eyes , I felt something slam into my gut and I lurched forward. The human shackles let go, pushing me to the ground and I tried to crawl away. Tiffany grabbed my foot, “I don’t think so whore—I’m not finished with you yet.” She had barely let go when I saw her kick me, repeating the action until I was barely gripping consciousness. I thought I heard people yelling from all directions; whoever was yelling had stopped the beating and I would be eternally grateful to that person.
I felt someone kneel beside me, “McKenna! McKenna! Can you hear me?” It hurt to breath or move for that matter but I knew that voice anywhere; it was Julie. Are you okay? I asked silently.
“Peachy, what about you?”
Slowly I pushed myself off the ground, wincing at the sharp pains in my chest and head. “Definitely seen better days that’s for sure but I’ll live.” Even though my eyes were swollen I could see the worry on her face. “I swear to you I will be okay.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “The ambulance will be here soon.”
“Call them back and tell them to not come.” I said in a deadpan voice. “My father would only blame me for this mess and beg Tiffany to press charges. Help me up Jules.”
It was clear as day that Julie was against calling the ambulance back but being the ever-faithful friend, she would. Slowly she helped me up then found a comfy chair for me to plop into. “Kenny you kn
ow you’re wrong, your dad couldn’t blame you for this—I mean how could he? You were the one who got your ass kicked, not her.”
I let out a painful sigh, “Trust me Jules…it is always my fault and it wouldn’t matter whose ass got kicked, he would think I was the root of the problem. Thanks for the thought though.” She didn’t look the least bit satisfied when she left to use her phone. Blissfully I closed my blurry eyes, relaxing for a moment before Julie would return.
“Mí larisitá…” I tensed at sound of the seductive whisper that was easily recognizable as uniquely Tristan. Pulling my eyes apart I expected to find him closer than I did. He was standing across the library in a strained stance with his arms folded across his chest. The normal cool as a cucumber attitude was nowhere to be found, the demon had murder in his eyes and I found it—mesmerizing.
A warm hand touched my arm, startling me. “What are you staring at?”
I glanced at Julie then back to where Tristan had been standing but he was gone. “Guess the bitch hit me hard enough to knock a few bolts lose. So how did you manage to break up the fight anyway?”
“It was strange really, some woman knocked down the two girls who were holding the chairs against the door then literally flicked tiffany and the other two away from you. She left right before campus security showed up.” She looked around for the female stranger.
“Julie, this is really important and I need you to tell me if you noticed anything other than the strength thing that was odd about this woman.”
She seemed to think for a minute then sat down beside me, looking confused. “I am sorry McKenna but no. The woman had dark brown hair that was cut short and she was tall. I didn’t get a good look at her; since I was trying to make sure my friend was still alive.”
Pushing the thought from my head, I gave Julie a hug. “Thank you. Sorry I am just being weird.”
“I’ve come to expect weird from you, so it’s all good.” She teased.
The pain was becoming tolerable when we started towards the car and somehow I gave in to Julie’s mothering by letting her take me to the Emergency Room. My body would heal from the beating Tiffany gave me but I began to wonder if my heart could ever be healed from the beating life gifted me with.
* * * *
“OUCH!” I hissed grabbing my side. “Listen to me you little punk, I may be busted up but I still chase you down!” I yelled charging towards Ben’s bedroom door. He was not going to get away with snooping in my room. The idiot even had the gall to steal the two unopened letters that Tristan had given me; here I was thinking that I hid them so well.
My little brother was taller than me and for the first time he stood his ground when I got in his face. “You’re not going to do shit to me sis! I have something of yours that is quite the page turner and I intended on reading it to anyone who will listen.” Before I could stop him, he turned away slamming the door in my face.
My vision turned red in a hurry. I ignored the nagging pain in my chest and beat violently on the solid wooden door. “Ben open up right fu—” The door flew open and I stumbled forward. Luckily, I caught myself on the door jam. However, Ben was too wrapped up in my letter to pay me any attention so I used the opportunity to yank it from him. Scanning the letter feverously, I felt my cheeks reddened when I could tell that Ben had opened the one from Tristan. The more I read the more graphic the letter became.
When I glanced up at my brother, I knew that he was more embarrassed than I was. “McKenna, whoever wrote that to you is just gross and the fact that he wants to do those things to you…” Ben ended on a shudder then reached in his back pocket and threw the other letter on the ground. “I’m going to go burn out my eyes.” He stalked back to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Slowly I picked up the letter from Aidan and took it back to my room. I stared at it not wanting to open the wounds that for once felt like they were closing. The fight with Tiffany seemed to have triggered the healing process, even after a week I felt stronger than I did a month ago. Did I really want to open that letter of torture? The answer to that one was an easy no; the pain was not worth it nor was the idea of being late for work. I did not hesitate when the lighter near my candles grabbed my attention. A settling peace swept over me as I watched the last of the letter burn to ashes, I gingerly folded Tristan’s obscene letter and placed it in my back pocket too afraid of hiding in my room. Pete may kill me for being late to work but at least I could die in peace…on my birthday.
By the time I had gotten to Pete’s it was nearly six o’clock and the doors would open for customers at six-thirty tonight; Pete would be pissed. I snuck in the back door with my apron already on, praying that no one would notice just how late I was. Stupid Ben! The parking lot was especially full tonight and the crowd waiting out front even looked unusually large. I had not seen a crowd that large since…well since the bar had live music. But considering I haven’t attended any classes since the fight with Tiffany last week, I was probably out of the loop. Thankfully, my instructors have been super nice by sending my work via e-mail or else I would be up shit creek again. I carefully peeked around the corner before entering the main bar area, from what I could tell Pete was not in sight.
“Who are you hiding from?” Julie whispered behind me, shattering my concentration.
My heart rate sky rocketed, “Jesus! You scared me to death; I’m going to have to put a damn bell on you or something.”
“Whatever” Julie said rolling her eyes. “If you’re creeping around here because you are late then you can relax, Pete isn’t here and before you even ask; I don’t have a clue as to why. He did not tell me anything other than that he would be back by six. You shouldn’t worry Kenny—it’s bad for your skin.” I could hear her giggling as I walked off. She continued to follow me to my section and helped me set-up the chairs. Pete had made Cheri give me a few of her front tables to help with my tips. He figured that I would never pay him back with what little I get from the tables I had.
It was six fifty when Pete finally showed up and opened the doors. This was the only time I had ever seen that man late for anything and what was even more suspicious was that Tristan had come in with him. Tristan looked more frazzled than Pete did.
“I’m going to go dig for clues.” Julie said in a low voice.
Silently, I gave her a thanks and tried to look busy helping customers get situated. After a few minutes I glanced over at Julie, who was extremely upset and arguing with her uncle. Pete furiously slammed his fist down, silencing Julie. When our eyes collided, she ran to the back, towards the office. I wanted to run after her but Pete was watching me with cautious eyes. Throwing common sense to wind, I went to the bar to confront Pete. “What’s going on with Julie and why are you watching me like I’m about to burst into flames?”
He looked away and began to shuffle around a few bottles of liquor, making it seem like he was busy. “Julie will be fine—she’s just dramatic and I am sorry about the staring. I just have a lot on my mind.”
I nodded to Pete’s lame excuse and went back to work. Maybe I was just being paranoid but something was definitely going on.
The night continued as every other Friday night at Pete’s, with the new jukebox blaring loudly and the heat becoming unbearable. When I went to open a side door I was relieved to see Julie in one piece; she still looked upset. “What’s wrong Julie?”
She grabbed my hands then swallowed repeatedly. “Kenny I-I’m sorry and I really don’t want to tell you…Aidan is back in town.” My head fell forward in defeat and I waited for the tears to make their debut; however, they never came. I lifted my head to meet Julie’s gaze, she had company. Tristan was standing right beside her, with an expression that can only be described as one of pity. “Aidan wants to talk to you but we don’t think it is such a good idea.”
I found it odd that she said we and asked why silently; she jerked her head in Tristan’s direction. Of course, he would stick his nose in this conversation. “For once I
agree with both of you.” Looking straight at Tristan I continued. “In fact you tell Aidan that I was wrong about everything and I hope the best for him; we owe each other nothing.”
He grinned returning to the seductive demon, “I will gladly tell him word for word your wishes.” Before he left to deliver my message, Tristan gave my hand a light kiss. “Happy Birthday by the way; your present is waiting for you at home on your desk.”
I blushed at the sinful touch of his lips, “You shouldn’t have gotten me anything.” He winked and left without another word.
“Pete will understand if you need to go home.” Julie’s face told me that she did believe me.
Straightening my spine, I prodded my anger. “No—I will not let him ruin another day for me.” Truthfully I wasn’t sure if I was pissed off more that Aidan had forgotten that today was my birthday or if he simply just didn’t care. Whichever the case both options hurt like hell.
My resentment registered with Julie, “Your anger is understandable and I agree he will not rain on our parade to celebrate your birthday.” She paused looked down at her feet, when she met my eyes again they had a playful dance burning bright, “Party on Wayne?”
Her shameless reference to one of my favorite movies was what I loved about her. “Party on Garth!” I shouted excitedly. “Besides it can’t get any worse right?” Julie shrugged and we both turned back towards the main bar area only to stop dead in our tracks. Aidan was waiting for me beside the stage and he looked delicious. His hair was darker, longer and curled wildly around his shirt collar but it was his body size that was the most notable. Aidan was at least six foot five and look to have been pumping some serious iron. Behind me Julie swore.
Still lustfully dreamy I said, “Maybe I should talk to him.”
“Focus!” Julie hissed, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “Remember what he did to you, remember all of that pain.” My heart turned back to ice at the memories.
