Romance: Zach (A College Bad Boy Romance)

by White, Jane S.

  “No…” In a fit of emotion, he grabbed her, pulling her to his chest, squeezing her tightly, her limp body, dead weight in his arms. “You. Can’t. Leave.” He said forcibly, before laying her down, his wings glowing even brighter with his emotions raged inside of him. Placing his hands on her chest, he concentrated all of his energy on saving her. He would give up everything if she would only open up her eyes one more time.

  Tears streaked down his face as he realized his efforts were going nowhere. His magic didn’t seem strong enough and he was slowly losing the energy he needed to bring her back from the brink of death. Frustrated, he broke away, looking down at her, picking her up and holding her in his arms gently.

  As he was walking toward the couch, she gasped, breathing in a sharp intake of air. He looked at her, his eyes huge in his head. Had he done it? Had he saved her? Excited, he placed her on the couch, waiting for her to recover as his magic made its way through her body, healing wounds and repealing the demon’s venom.

  Finally, her eyes opened up, looking at him in surprise. “Aaron?” She whispered, wondering what he was doing there. Then, all of a sudden she remembered the woman and her eyes went huge as she sat up in a fury. “Where is she!?”

  “Shh… it’s okay.” He whispered, gently caressing her hair, making her relax a little. “She’s gone now.” Aaron’s voice sounded relieved as he looked at his friend, her body recovering from the near-death ordeal, she had just experienced.

  It was then that Lydia noticed the wings emerging from Aaron’s back. It looked like slivers of energy were growing out of him, taking the haphazard form of wings. She looked at them in shock. “Aaron…” She pointed, her hand shaking. What was going on? Why did it seem like her world was being thrown into chaos? First it was Sebastian’s crazy ex-fiancée acting like some vampire and now Aaron had wings. What the hell was going on?

  “Lydia… I’m an angel.”

  “Oh no… I am not going to sit here and listen to any more nonsense. I have been through hell today and I have no idea what is going on, but I don’t want to hear you, of all people, lie to me.” Lydia spoke quickly, the words falling out of her mouth in anger. She couldn’t believe what was going on as her world was in a jumble. She felt dizzy, nonetheless, she got up, pushing Aaron away when he tried to stop her.

  “Tell me what is going on.”

  “I told you… I’m an angel. Your guardian angel…” Aaron whispered softly, sounding heartbroken that Lydia was so angry at him. Lydia closed her eyes, her face getting flushed with anger.

  “And that crazy woman that invaded my home, what is she, some kind of demon?” Lydia snapped, her eyes looking at her friend harshly.

  “Ummmm… Yes…” Aaron whispered as he got up, trying to get closer to her.

  “This is ridiculous. I thought you were my friend Aaron. Why would you do this to me? Why can’t you just tell me the truth?” Her eyes were filled with angry tears now.

  “I… I…”

  “We have been friends for years. If you were some sort of an angel I would have expected you to tell me long ago!” Lydia fumed, before walking out of her own home, her emotions making her feel trapped. Now, she felt like the world was closing down around her, suffocating her, until it became almost impossible to breathe.

  Chapter 8

  Lydia wandered through the city’s streets for a while. She was a total mess, her hair wild and her clothes torn from the altercation she had just gone through. She, however, didn’t care. All she thought about was keeping her body in motion. She wanted to forget about everything as the events of the day were too much for her brain to process.

  Her friend was an angel? Who did he think she was? An idiot? Lydia was angry at all the lies everyone had fed her. She just wanted to be alone. She needed to sort herself out and figure out what was going on. However, as she looked up she realized she was standing at the gates of Sebastian’s home.

  Sighing, she moved forward, the gates opening as if moved by magic, allowing her into the manor. There had to be a reason why her body had brought her there even while she was submerged in her own subconscious. Walking up the long driveway, she looked up at the mansion, wondering if Sebastian was home.

  Maybe she could talk to him about all of this. Maybe he would help her figure out what was going on. With this thought, her pace quickened a little more, until she was nearly jogging. As she reached the door, it opened before she could even knock, letting her walk inside. Her footsteps echoed loudly.

  “Hello?” There was no answer. Lydia shivered with goosebumps at the ominous feeling of the whole thing. Who had opened up the door? She looked around but saw no one. Sighing, she walked up the stairs thinking maybe Sebastian was in his room.

  Walking in, however, she found it to be empty. His bed was untouched, but looking to the corner, his desk was scattered with papers. Curiously, Lydia moved forward, getting closer to the desk. Picking some up, she was shocked at what she saw.

  On the table were documents from an assortment of businesses from porn sites, to tobacco industries, to exotic clubs, to notes from something that screamed drug cartel. What was all of this? As she looked down at the documents, Sebastian’s signature was on all of them. Was he part of all of these things?

  How could he own all of these taboo things and act like such an amazing man? He was making all of his money off the depravity of others. It made Lydia sick, until she threw most of the documents into the blazing fireplace, smiling as she saw them burn. Sebastian was not the man she thought he was. He was something else. Something much darker.

  As she watched the documents burn, Sebastian appeared in the doorway, watching her, wondering what was going on. “Lydia?” She whipped around, looking at him with harsh eyes.

  “Look, if it isn’t Mr. Perfect,” she said snidely walking up to him. “Care to tell me the truth?”

  “What are you talking about?” He said, his hand reaching out, about to caress her cheek. She pulled away, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “When were you going to tell me that you make all your money through these horrible means? I knew that stupid Temptation agency of yours was a hoax! I can’t believe you would use my friend as a porn star. Selling drugs? Erotic dancers? Perdition? I was a fool for not seeing it sooner. You and your family are a bunch of criminals who take advantage of others.” Her voice was strained with emotion as red hot tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. She had been such a fool.

  “Lydia… please… hear me out.” He whispered, trying to cling to the hope that she could still love him. “It’s not…”

  “I don’t want to hear it! Leave me alone! Everyone has been lying to me and I am sick and tired of it!” She yelled, now furious, about to make her way out of the door. Sebastian stopped her, wrapping his arms around her, making her go through a type of fit. Finally, she squirmed away, retreating back into the room, looking at him with an icy stare.

  “Get out of the way,” Lydia said coldly.

  “Lydia… listen to me… I lov–”

  “Don’t you dare,” Lydia said as her hand flew out, slapping him on the cheek with as much power as she could muster. His cheek turned red in response as he looked at her in shock. No one had ever lashed out at him like that.

  Sebastian was going to respond, to try and convince her once more. He wanted to ask for a chance to explain himself when suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise that filled the entire mansion. The sound was deafening, making the whole building shake. Debris started to fall from the ceiling as if the entire place would crumble at any moment.

  Another crash sounded, a lot louder this time. It felt like an earthquake was shaking the foundation and Lydia’s eyes grew large.

  “What’s going on?” Before Sebastian could answer, another noise emerged, this time, the sound of shattering glass as the nearby window burst, causing an explosion of tiny glass shards. Sebastian moved quickly, stepping in front of Lydia, covering her from the countless deadly pieces, taking on th
e damage himself as she shook behind him, wondering what was going on as her ears kept ringing with the sounds that had shaken the building.

  Chapter 9

  As Sebastian stared up at Ivy standing there, a maniacal look on her face, he pushed Lydia behind him, trying to protect her. “What are you doing here?” He demanded, looking at her with fierce eyes.

  “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” she said slowly moving forward, trying to intimidate him.

  “Do not forget the structure of our society, Ivy. I can destroy you if you keep provoking me.” He warned, pushing Lydia under the bed as if that would protect her from what was about to happen.

  “You can try.” She taunted, looking at him with eyes burning for a fight. Sebastian ground his teeth, dark magic trickling from the tips of his fingers, the air around him intensifying with the energy he was introducing into the world of humans. With well-aimed precision, he fired the inklings of darkness in her direction, like darts toward a bullseye. Ivy, however, was quicker, avoiding the attack with a well-practiced jump.

  Soon, she was behind Sebastian, using the shadows that now basked around the room to her advantage, always on the move, and always keeping Sebastian on edge. Sebastian grew impatient, his power intensifying as he launched faster and more powerful attacks in her direction. She kept avoiding them, until finally he grabbed her, his hand around her wrist. Her other hand tried to reach out and claw at him, to inject her venom into his blood, but he grabbed that hand as well, pinning them against one of his bed posters.

  In a last ditch effort, she leaned forward and kissed him, focusing all of her power into her one fatal move. Sebastian however, was immune to her power, given his status in society and protected by the ward his heart had formed by loving another.

  Hissing he leaned down, his hand about to rip out her heart in fury, when Lydia emerged from under the bed, thinking the fight was over. As she saw the two of them in a tantalizing position, she froze, staring at them. Sebastian cursed under his breath, seeing how suspicious this looked. Ivy took her chance and kissed him again, hoping it would bring forth hostilities between the prince and his precious human female.

  Sebastian quickly grew angry at the lesser demon’s insolence and pushed her against the wall, nearly throwing her into the fireplace. Lydia grimaced, feeling the room shake with the effort. In a rage, he charged her, nearly destroying her with various attacks, until she no longer looked like the beautiful Ivy, but a disfigured mass of bone and muscle.

  She didn’t even look alive as Lydia stepped forward. “STOP!” She screamed, unable to handle the rage that Sebastian was in. He would kill her. Lydia tried to pry the strong man off of the woman and to her surprise he gave up on his attack, looking up at her, his eyes unsure. Lydia’s were full of tears. “You were going to kill her…” She whispered, looking down, wondering what kind of man Sebastian truly was. First he was part of all of this deplorable organizations and now he had nearly killed someone, his ex-fiancée no less.

  Despite what Ivy had done to her, she didn’t want to see the woman die. As she looked over in the direction where she had once been, about to offer her some help, the woman was gone. She had melted away with the shadows, retreating, hopefully for good into the world of her origin.

  Sebastian cursed under his breath, knowing she would tell his parents about what had happened. He feared the repercussions that would result from their battle. If he had only killed her, things might have been better, but now she was still alive to recount the tale and get him in trouble. The punishment for breaking demon code was brutal and unforgiving, but right now Sebastian had other things to worry about.

  “Lydia… are you alright?” He whispered, standing up, looking down at the girl with kind eyes, trying to see if she was wounded. He himself had a few cuts and bruises, but his powerful blood would have him healed up in no time. He, however, knew that humans were much more fragile.

  Lydia didn’t answer him. Instead, she stared into the fire numbly, as if there was something plaguing her mind and looking into the flames would get her the answers she needed. Everyone she knew was lying to her. She was trapped in a world she didn’t know. One filled with people who had powers that seemed to be possible only in the realm of the fantasy. Nothing made any sense anymore and Lydia just wished she could wake up and have things go back to the way they used to be before her birthday.

  She wished for all of this to end, she wanted to walk away, to curl up in her bed and forget about everything that had just happened. In a single day, her whole world had been turned upside-down and she no longer knew how to fix it. Biting her lip, tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt completely helpless.

  It was all a big jumble in her mind. She moved closer to the fire until her feet grew warm from the flames. The bright colors danced before her, the flames flicking forward and backward as if tempted to touch her, but at the same time afraid of her. Her face was angelic, calm and pure with the reminiscence of her old life, still lingering there, but in her eyes, was a newfound knowledge.

  Her sliver of green intensified in the flames, as she felt something change within her. She knew, from this moment forward she would never be quite the same again. Things would be different. She had been exposed to two worlds that should have never come to her knowledge.

  Chapter 10

  “Lydia…” Sebastian whispered, his hand reaching out, touching her arm. She looked up at him, her eyes almost dead with the lack of emotion. He knew it was difficult for a human to come to terms with the fact that angels and demons did truly exist and that they walked among them, indistinguishable and leading regular lives. But something about Lydia didn’t feel right.

  He shook her gently, but still he did not get the response he was looking for. Instead, she shook him away and made her way to the door without saying a word. She walked out of the room before he followed her. “Leave me alone.” She said cruelly, without looking back at the man that now looked at her with a longing, he feared he would never be able to satisfy. Had he truly destroyed his chances of ever having Lydia, a human who had changed his perspectives in his life?

  While he wanted to go after her and pull her into his arms again, smell her alluring scent once more, he knew he couldn’t. She wanted to be alone and she had every right to such a decision, after what she had just gone through. He would give her time and soon she would come back to him. Sebastian clung to this hope as she climbed down the stairs and the front door slammed behind her, finalizing her move out of his life.

  As Lydia walked home, her thoughts were too much to bear. Both Aaron and Sebastian were now strangers to her. One claimed to be an angel while the other seemed to be a demon. It was a confusing dilemma she was stuck in and she didn’t know how to begin unraveling the whole thing.

  Eventually, as this turmoil burdened her, she managed to make her way back home. Her door was unlocked and her living room was destroyed, but she by-stepped all of this in search for her bed. Curling up, she got under the covers, trying to forget about everything. She closed her eyes, hoping to go back to a world of the natural and not the supernatural.

  But as she laid there, her mind worked double time, reminding her of all the trust and loyalty she had put into the people of her life. It would be hard getting over this. Sighing, she got up, looking around, trying to find something to comfort her, but saw nothing in her room. Instead, everything seemed to mock her, giving her a cold stare. She shivered and laid back down, wrapping the blanket around herself.

  She soon got up, taking the blanket with her, moving into the kitchen. Maybe some food would help her. She looked for something to prepare, but nothing looked appetizing in her state. She knew it was unhealthy to be this down about what had happened, but how else was she supposed to react to the whole thing? The people she had relied on the most had now destroyed her trust and she was left with no one to fall back on.

  She could call Victoria, but if she recounted what had happened, surely her friend would think sh
e was mad. She sighed, deciding against it, before moving into the living room and curling up on her couch. She didn’t even bother turning on the TV, instead, she stared at the blank screen as if it would help her solve her problems. Of course, it didn’t.

  As she finally broke out of her trance, she noticed something. Her eyes moved to the left and she recoiled back as she saw a man standing there. He looked oddly familiar, even though she could have sworn, she had never seen him before. As their eyes locked, she finally made the connection. This man looked like Sebastian. A relative maybe.

  “Wh…who are you? What are you doing here?” Lydia stammered, not wanting to deal with another hectic event, after her already unmatchable day.

  “I am someone you will get to know very well…” He grinned softly, moving closer to the girl who pulled away. “I have a special interest in you,” he smirked, reaching forward and grabbing her arm. Lydia tried to tear away, but his grip was impossibly strong.

  “Let go of me!” She yelled out, trying to fight her way out of yet another situation. The man, however, kept the grip on her, his eyes burning with an evil fire. She felt desperate to get away as a sensation of doom came over her, making her shiver.

  “LET GO!” She yelled, frantic now as the man moved even closer. He was dressed well and looked calm as he grabbed her other arm, pulling her harshly into a standing position.

  “We are going to have a lot of fun dear,” he whispered his tongue on her ear, licking it, making her cringe. “A lot more fun than my brother could ever give you.” His voice was sensual and tempting as he his lips traveled down her neck, down to her collarbone, moving closer to her chest.

  “W… who is your brother?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Tsk… tsk… you already know.” He smirked, his hands roaming over her body, making her skin crawl. “But I will open up your eyes and show you the true world of my people. I will show you the world of sin and desire as Sebastian never did.” His hands traveled down, as his arms wrapped themselves around her like some sort of serpent that wanted to force the life out of her. As the man leaned down, he kissed her neck, biting down hard, like a viper about to kill his prey.