by Lisa Swallow
“Darius … He’ll be looking for me, he thinks I’ve succeeded,” she said.
“That’s why we cut out your tracker. We’ll be watching you. Until we return Keir’s soul. Then they’re welcome to you,” said Eli.
Asher placed a steadying hand on his arm. “Eli, don’t be harsh.”
“Harsh? We’ve lost one of our own!”
“Then let the decision be Keir’s. When we have him back,” said Asher gently.
“I’ll do everything I can to help you give his soul back to him,” said Ava.
Eli’s proximity frightened her, convinced one of his clenched fists would make contact with her at any moment.
“I don’t doubt that,” smiled Asher as he leant across the table and picked up the gem, as if it were an egg with a paper-thin shell.
“You’ll have no choice,” muttered Eli, “we’re going to find him and you’re going to help us. Even if it kills you.”
Ava shifted in her seat. “Do you know where he is?”
“No. He will come for you, I’m sure of that. Hopefully before he does too much damage.” Eli tapped his fingers on the table. “I hope you realize what you’ve done.”
“I didn’t do it, he did,” she whispered, placing her blood-stained hands on her knees, out of sight.
Eli snorted. “You expect me to believe that Kier would sacrifice his soul?”
“We can’t know what his motivation was. Don’t underestimate the actions of the soul-tied.” Asher smiled at Ava.
The frown on Eli’s face as he swept his gaze over Ava betrayed his disbelief. His eyes met hers and she saw the hatred flick across them. “Whatever reason, we’ve lost someone valuable. And we need him back. I would happily kill you.”
Ava’s face paled further. “Dahlia said that without his soul he’s a demon? Why should he care what happens to me now?”
“He’s still in human form. You had a human, physical relationship. He’ll still be attracted to you. Which is useful to us. It’s our way back to him,” said Eli
Ava breathed deeply, the prospect of imminent death fading. Here lay a chance to redeem herself to these people. An opportunity to right her wrong. And Keir wasn’t dead, only lost.
“What do I need to do?” she asked.
“Return to college, resume your daily routine until he returns. Which he will. We’ll watch you, ensure Darius’s forces don’t find you before Keir. Then, when we discover how to return his soul, we’ll bring you back here and tell you what to do,” said Asher.
Ava rubbed her face but the smell of blood on her hands turned her stomach; she shoved them under her arms, tears pricking at her eyes.
“Asher will return you to campus,” said Eli.
Chapter 23
A newspaper flew across the library desk, and Ava looked up, startled. Dahlia and Jack sat down next to her. The library was due to close and only those cramming for tests still remained. The peace of the library turned the place into a sanctuary for Ava, and she spent an increasing amount of time there, hidden among the maze of shelves.
“Look,” snapped Dahlia, pointing to a headline, “More.”
Another disappearance, the third in the local area in as many weeks. Ava remembered her conversation with Jack, the night he admitted he still killed. She arched an eyebrow at him. Jack’s face darkened and he opened his mouth to protest.
“No - this wasn’t Jack, I was with him that night. Same as when all the others disappeared,” said Dahlia. “It’s Keir.”
A yellow tinge colored Jack’s skin, his increasingly dull eyes as subdued as him. On the few days he came onto campus with Dahlia, his current state drew stares from other students. He’d looked more human as a fully functioning vampire. Dahlia told the truth, he hadn’t fed recently.
“We don’t know for sure Keir’s killing,” said Ava.
“Kind of a coincidence,” Dahlia leaned across the table, “since he’s been spotted around here anyway.”
“On campus?” Adrenaline rushed into Ava’s limbs.
“Not on campus. Yet. But I don’t think it’ll be long,” said Dahlia.
“It might be Zach?” asked Ava.
“It might be both of them,” said Jack, quietly.
“Yeah, showing him the ropes again,” said Dahlia.
Ava sighed and sat back. She watched as Dahlia pulled out her laptop. Several weeks had passed and they hadn’t seen Keir. Several weeks of Dahlia’s animosity, of Ava glad Jack was around to temper Dahlia’s constant aggressive outbursts. Ava saw the hidden pain in Dahlia’s eyes and didn’t blame her, but Ava didn’t want to be confronted with her own actions every time Dahlia came near her.
“He knows we’ll be looking for him,” said Dahlia. “He won’t want to be found. He’s not Keir - not thinking like Keir.” She pointed to an image on her screen. “I’ve been plotting where most of the attacks have been happening in the area and they are centered in a couple of towns near here, moving closer. Asher is going to come with me and Jack to one of those towns and you’re to stay here. In case he is waiting for you to be on your own.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Why? Scared?” sneered Dahlia.
Ava shook her head. “No. Just confirming.”
“Well, Asher wanted me to let you know. In case you miss us. I would say we’ll miss you. But I’d be lying,” Dahlia grabbed the newspaper. “Personally, I hope he finds you soon and fucking hurts you. A lot.”
Ava blinked as she watched Dahlia leave.
Jack hesitated, waited until Dahlia was out of earshot then leant in to speak to Ava quietly. “Asher and Eli don’t want her around when he comes back. She won’t fully accept he’s lost. They’re worried about what would happen if she approached him.”
Ava looked into his sunken face, the veins showed through the translucent skin on the back of the hand he’d placed on the desk.
She reached out and touched him. “I hope someone can help you soon.”
So he could rejoin the world instead of hovering on the fringes.
Jack closed his eyes, breathed in and walked away. A guy studying at a nearby desk watched him go, hands frozen above his laptop.
Ava slumped back in her chair. Keir was looking for her. And she wanted him to find her.
*
Ava wiped her hand across her forehead, the heat of the bodies and the coffee machine wet her forehead and dampened her hair. The shift dragged on, surely someone must have slowed time down. The cold weather pushed people through the doors, looking for hot coffees to keep them warm on the trip home at the end of the day. Ava had never drunk much coffee, and after her time spent at The Coffee Place she never wanted to drink any again. The deep smell turned her stomach.
She turned to grab some more beans to grind, letting Janie deal with preparing the latest orders. She could juggle tasks, keep her mind focused away from Dahlia’s and Jack’s absence. A couple approached to order, wrapped up in matching scarves, the girl’s long blonde hair sticking out from beneath a woolen hat. Ava smiled at them, envying the simplicity of their lives.
Something caught her eye and blood left her head for her feet. In the corner table, by the window, Zach watched her. He leaned back in his seat with arms tucked behind his head, a sardonic smile on his face. Another guy faced him, back to Ava. He wore a brown leather jacket and dark curls touched his neck.
Ava steadied herself against the bench, and her hearing faded. Keir.
Zach bent across the table toward Keir and said something, keeping his piercing blue eyes on Ava at all times. Ava willed Keir to look around but he didn’t move.
So they had been waiting for Jack and Dahlia to leave.
The shift continued in a daze, she made mistakes and spilt things over her trembling hands. Would he talk to her? Hurt her?
Janie finished her shift early, leaving Ava alone to wipe down the counter and wait for stragglers to leave. Outside, the chill wind blew garbage along the street, whirling leaves into piles, blowing paper
s against the window. The starless sky had turned a white grey, foreshadowing a snowy night. Ava wasn’t looking forward to walking home in the inhospitable weather. Especially not now.
Preoccupied by her thoughts, she didn’t notice only Zach and Keir remained in the empty cafe. The trembling she’d gotten control over resumed and her neck prickled. Ava hoped the numbers of passing by the cafe’s brightly lit windows would be enough for Zach and Keir to leave her unharmed.
Ava busied herself by tidying cups and refilling cutlery. She refused to acknowledge them, but as the clock ticked past closing time she didn’t have a choice. Smoothing her hair and taking a deep breath, Ava walked over to their table.
“We’re closing now, Zach,” she said curtly, standing side on so she wouldn’t have to look at Keir.
Zach yawned. “Hello, Ava. Keir, look, Ava’s here.”
“You know damn well I’m here, you’ve been sat here all night.”
She chewed at her cheek and looked into the window. Keir’s profile reflected back at her, looking straight ahead at Zach. He turned his head to the window. A ghost of an outline of his face stared back at her. Ava swallowed.
“Did you need a ride home?” asked Zach.
“With you? I don’t think so.”
“You never know what might be waiting out there for an unprotected soul-hunter,” he said, winking at Keir.
Ava’s scalp tingled in warning. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“Suit yourself. Aren’t you going to say hello to Keir?” asked Zach innocently.
The room constricted, dizziness taking over and darkening her world. Weeks of dreading, yet wanting, this moment filled her heavy limbs. She shifted position to face Keir.
Keir looked at her.
His eyes. Ava suppressed a gasp, rearranging her features into a neutral look. It was Keir - but it wasn’t. The same strong brow, sculptured jaw and touchable lips but his sapphire eyes held a harder look, his mouth tight.
“Hi, Keir,” she said brightly.
His blank face betrayed nothing of his reaction to seeing her and he looked away.
Hastily, she turned back to Zach. “Time to leave. I want to get home.”
Zach smirked. “Of course, sorry for keeping you. I thought you and Keir might have some catching up to do. But for some reason he doesn’t seem to want to chat.”
“I have nothing to say,” said Keir, voice low.
Zach pushed his hands on the table and stood. “Such a shame. You were so close as well.”
He indicated Keir should leave too, and Keir slid out from the bench seat.
The two men towered over Ava, standing uncomfortably close to her. Zach’s aura had always seemed wrong and now Keir’s matched. Not wanting to engage any more of her senses with them, Ava held her breath and stepped to one side to allow the two men past.
Keir walked out first and the bell tinkled as he went through the door. Zach paused. “Maybe you’ll find time to catch up. Now he’s back.”
“Back?”
“At college. Good-looking guy like him should soon collect some new souls for us. Well, me.” He followed Keir.
Ava locked the door behind them with trembling fingers. She returned to their table to clear it. Keir’s coffee cup remained half full on the table. Ava picked up the white cup and threw it across the room, fighting her tears as she heard the satisfying smash and watched coffee streak across the walls.
*
Ava never thought she’d miss Dahlia, but when Keir walked into her seminar room the next morning, she wished Dahlia was there too. The number of students attending seminars had fallen off as the end of semester approached, and the room was half empty. The lack of participants annoyed the tutor and made Ava’s situation with Keir uncomfortable. He positioned himself directly opposite her and never said a word or looked away from her face for the full hour. A couple of times, Ava tried to stare back at him, hold his cold, blue-eyed gaze defiantly. Her memories of the man who’d looked at her with open affection just weeks ago surfaced, firing up her attraction to him and she had to turn away.
Ava left the room first, and into the crowded hallway. She hid herself between groups as she strode along, trying to keep ahead of Keir. A group of girls in front of her stopped suddenly and she bumped into them. One of the girls turned to say something, but Ava fixed the overly made-up girl with one of her specialty stares, and the girl hastily turned back to her friends.
“Still frightening people?” asked Keir, behind her.
Ava spun around. He’d caught up. Opening her mouth to speak she realized she had no idea what to say. Sorry for stabbing you in the heart? How are you feeling? Are you evil? She mentally rolled her eyes at herself.
“Hi, Ava.”
He sounded like Keir, the distant Keir who’d threatened her when they first met. But back then he’d still had a spark in his eyes, which led to her questioning his corrupt nature. Today the malevolence couldn’t be disguised.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
“What about? We have nothing to say to each other anymore.”
Keir’s eyes blazed at her intensely. “I’m feeling better by the way. After your attack.”
The stream of people around had become a trickle. She needed to get away from him. Taking advantage of her distraction, he moved closer and she backed up against the wall, cursing herself she’d let him trap her.
His proximity had the same effect as before. Sexuality radiated from him and she ached for him to touch her, confused and upset by her body’s reaction. This wasn’t her Keir. She closed her eyes, holding her breath against his dizzying scent.
Keir reached out and lightly traced his fingers down her face sending a shiver along her neck. “I forgive you, you did me a favor. Now I’ve seen what I have, I can see how much time I wasted freeing souls.”
Her lips involuntarily parted as his warm lips hovered close to her ear.
“No. What you were doing was right,” she said.
Placing an arm on the wall and leaning over her, he hovered his mouth achingly close to hers. Her body betrayed her and the arousal stirred inside.
Amusement flickered in his eyes at her trembling. “Why are you still here?”
“Here with you? I’ll leave if you move.”
“No, here. In this world. Why haven’t you gone back with your prize yet?”
Ava wasn’t sure what to tell him, how much he already knew. “I don’t have anything to take back. Asher and Eli took the crystal from me.”
A deep frown creased Keir’s brow. “What? Are they involved now?”
“Of course they are.”
“They’re wasting their fucking time. Tell them from me.” He laughed. “Poor thing. All this was such a waste of time for you.”
She searched for any sign of the Keir she knew hidden in countenance of the man in front of her. He’d gone. When he reached out his hand and touched her cheek she realized standing her ground had been a mistake, unprepared for the physical connection to still be there. His pupils dilated as he looked into hers, a smile hovering around the edges of his mouth as he became aware of her reaction to him.
“I miss you,” he said in a low voice and she got a hint of the primal, predatory Keir. “We never did finish what we’d started, did we? Do you think we still could?”
Keir’s hand slipped around her waist, fingers probing beneath her top and Ava jerked as his touch zapped her skin. “I know how much you’ve wanted me.”
Ava gasped against drowning in him, summoning the control to sidestep. “I don’t think so, I don’t tend to hang out with demons who kill people.”
He dropped his hand and frowned at her. “Aw, Ava, I took their souls. Their deaths were a side-effect.”
The horror of hearing Keir talk like this tore at Ava, and tears filled her eyes. Her fault. One thought taunted her when she lay in bed at night - had he known this is what he’d become if he lost his soul and allowed himself to turn into this?
Keir took
her by the arm and guided her to the seminar room, now vacant apart from abandoned pens and screwed up paper. Ava grabbed the doorframe and he laughed at her. “Don’t worry, I only want to talk to you. For now.”
“What about?”
Keir ran his tongue across his teeth and pulled out a chair, scraping it across the tiles. He sat and leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands under his chin.
“You kill demons. And the occasional Nephilim. How does that make you any better than me? How many demons have you killed in your hunt for souls?” he asked.
“Hundreds. Why?”
“And I have killed maybe ten or so humans,” he said in a low voice, “So why am I the bad guy?”
Keir’s words were a slap in Ava’s face. Ten. “Are you suggesting a demon’s life is worth as much as a human life?”
“Why isn’t it?”
Ava paused. “Demons are evil. Their souls have been stolen from humans. They don’t deserve them.”
“And who deserves a soul, Ava?”
Ava blinked. The old Keir continued to fade away, the guy in front of her an outline of the Keir she’d destroyed. “You’re not making sense. Keir wouldn’t say this.”
“Keir is saying this. And it sounds like you can’t answer my question.”
Ava rested her head on the doorframe. “Can’t you remember the reasons you did what you did before? Why you freed the souls?”
“Oh, Ava, sweet Ava, the battle going on around us makes that so insignificant. A few freed souls makes no difference to the amount collected up and used to create armies.”
Ava’s skin tingled, he sounded disturbingly like Zach. “You didn’t used to think it was insignificant.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I used to think you were significant too. I suppose you still hold some significance for me. Since you stole my soul.” He appraised her from top to toe, lingeringly, and her face burnt. “Like I said, I’m happy to pick up where we left off. If you change your mind.”
