by Lisa Swallow
Keir rose and approached her; Ava stumbled backwards, terrified he’d take hold of her, touch her the way he had in the hallway. What scared her more was she wanted him to.
“No fucking way,” she said
“Fine. I’ll find someone else. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
Keir strode off, leaving Ava leaning against the doorframe. She’d pictured her first encounter with the soulless Keir, but never expected this. She’d expected to fight for her life, instead she’d ended up fighting with herself against her desire for him. This proved the soul-tie was an illusion, and the gravitational pull between them purely sexual. She’d almost believed in the soul-tie too.
Ava turned and watched Keir stride down the hallway, students dodging the confident, attractive guy not realizing they instinctively moved away from danger. Girls watched him pass, oblivious to the same threat; appraising the tall guy dressed in black, whose arrogance and edginess exuded a sexual power which drew them in. The girls who would be his target.
Chapter 24
Ava kept away from Keir. Unfortunately, Dahlia and Jack also stayed away from campus. She’d expected them back sooner. Asher assured her she’d be safe, he and Eli were watching for Darius and would tell her when the time was right to approach Keir. Stupidly, she thought that’d be days, not weeks. Her encounter with Keir brought the situation into sharp focus - he’d admitted he’d killed. Every missing person in the area; every siting of Zach with Keir pushed her anxiety higher. She was constantly vigilant, in case of a visit from Darius’s foot soldiers. Both situations led to sleepless nights and the accompanying brain fog. She’d frequently miss the content of her lessons, sitting in a daze, asking herself what she’d got into, how she’d let this happen. All the time under Keir’s burning gaze.
Darius sent someone. A cocky soul-hunter called Ethan who came into the coffee shop one day, gleefully told her Darius’s patience ran thin, and she’d better get hold of the soul crystal soon. Then he’d sauntered off, leather jacket and blond kiss curls, winking at the girls he passed. Ava recognized the swagger and bravado from her past. She hoped a Nephilim was his target, the bravado wouldn’t hang around then.
Keir continued to psych her out whenever he got a chance, and sitting opposite her in class was one of his favorite places to indulge. When not in class, she caught him prowling the hallways, worming his way into the affections of any girl whose head he turned. Ava would pass him in the cafeteria, on benches, walking the campus, always with a different girl. His confidence and awareness of the effect he had reflected in his ability to effortlessly attract them. The dark-haired, model material guy breaking hearts as all bad boys did. Ava snorted. Dumb human girls falling for a fucking cliché. But it shouldn’t cost them their lives. And sooner or later one of them would die.
Keir focused on one girl. Ava first saw them outside the cafeteria, the girl twirling blonde hair around her fingers as he whispered something which made her giggle and blush. Keir took hold of the girl and pulled her to him for a deep kiss. The girl kissed him eagerly back, tiptoeing to reach his face. His hands explored her body in full view of everyone around them, causing her giggling to increase as she slapped his hand away. Leaning into the girl’s ear, his hand on her ass he whispered something. The girl snuggled into him, and Keir pulled her away, arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders.
Ava turned and ran into the bathroom, fighting the urge to vomit. She stared at herself in the mirror, willing herself not to sit on the floor and cry. What had she expected from an unrestrained and uninhibited Keir? Certainly not celibacy. She splashed her cheeks with water, and reapplied the eye make-up displaced by a stray tear. She walked out. Too late now to see where they’d gone, but she didn’t have a hard time guessing.
The girl entangled herself with Keir on a bench the next day, and Ava considered warning the girl. But what could she say? By the way he’s going to kill you and take your soul? Whatever she said, she’d appear to be the jealous ex. In her time as Keir’s girlfriend, she’d attracted plenty of envious and confused looks. So Ava shadowed the pair of them, this girl’s life at stake because of her. When they started spending long evenings in his dorm room she stopped. Her underlying role to protect human life didn’t stretch far enough for her to cope with the emotions that raised.
The girl disappeared a few days later. Suspicion pointed firmly at Keir, but Zach provided him with a water-tight alibi and some doctored CCTV footage. As with the other disappearances dotted around the area, no trace of the victim existed. Rumblings about a serial killer began. Ava stormed around campus, searching him out but he evaded her. What the fuck were Asher and Eli doing? People were dying.
*
A white picket fence and immaculately groomed topiary greeted Ava when she arrived at the house. A different house to the last one the Nephilim had taken her to, bigger but as ordinary. She supposed that’s what hiding in plain sight meant.
Asher opened the car door and she stepped onto the pavement. Two mums standing opposite stopped wrangling their toddlers to stare at the party leaving the car. Ava wondered what they thought of the strange blue-eyed men living in their street. Maybe the fact they were easy on the eye helped make them more acceptable.
“Jack and Dahlia are here,” said Asher, pushing open the front door.
Asher’s appearance puzzled Ava. Keir and Eli had dark hair and no one could doubt their human form. But she sensed something different about Asher; his paler skin and white blond hair accentuated the unusual colored eyes in an ethereal way. She’d never seen one of the Caelestia but she’d heard descriptions of them and he matched it. Maybe other secrets existed, greater than Keir’s.
Asher indicated she should walk in before him and she hovered in the doorway. The prospect of Eli wasn’t a welcome one. Asher brushed past her, walking toward a nearby room. The large room held a couple of black leather sofas and a small, round coffee table with two glasses of water resting on it. A TV stood on a bench opposite the window, Dahlia and Jack sat together on one of the sofas, watching the television. Asher crossed the room and turned it off.
“Hey,” said Ava, smiling over her nerves.
“This isn’t good,” said a pale-faced Dahlia.
“Nice to see you again too,” retorted Ava.
Dahlia rubbed her temples. “Everything is always about you, isn’t it? So fucking self-obsessed. I meant it’s not good you’re here, because it means Keir is getting out of hand”
Ava opened her mouth to reply but decided not to. Jack’s eyes shone brighter than when he left, his skin whiter and smoother. Something about their extra days away from campus had to be due to Jack’s new appearance. She dismissed the thought of him feeding. Asher and Eli couldn’t condone such a thing, surely.
Asher moved to the chair by the sunny bay window and sat, golden curls illuminated like a halo behind him.
“Didn’t you tell her?” Ava asked Asher.
Asher shook his head, “Dahlia has been dealing with Jack.”
This piqued Ava’s interest - an answer to his improvement in appearance. An answer no one was going to give her.
“Tell me what?” Dahlia’s eyes grew.
“How is Jack today?” asked Asher with a sideways glance at Ava, face warning her to stay quiet.
Dahlia looked from Ava to Asher, mouth tightening.
“Better,” said Jack.
Ava appreciated the change of subject. “You look better.”
“This isn’t a family get-together where we all discuss each others health,” said Dahlia, glaring at Ava, “What’s going on?”
Eli entered the room and moved to the window. “We need to speed things up a bit. Sit down, Ava.”
Ava perched on the sofa opposite Dahlia and Jack.
“What’s he done?” asked Dahlia, “You’re talking about Keir, aren’t you?”
Perspiration slicked Ava’s palms, relieved Asher stood between her and Dahlia.
“He’s out of control.” Eli’s voice wa
s harsh.
“Tell me what he’s done.” Dahlia dug her fingernails into the sofa arm. “Is he killing people? You know for definite it’s him now?”
Ava squirmed under the silence, which spoke more than any answer, wishing they hadn’t brought her there. She waited for Dahlia’s wrath but the anger never came.
Dahlia sat stiffly, hand scrunching part of her skirt into her fist, staring ahead. Her eyes glistened. “Who did he kill? Do you have proof?”
Asher and Eli looked to Ava.
“A girl from campus,” said Ava flatly, “A girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” asked Dahlia.
Jack sat forward. “So it is him. What did he do with her soul?”
“I don’t think he released it,” said Asher, “I imagine he consumed the soul and took it back to Zach.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” said Dahlia.
“He’s not Keir,” Eli replied, “Remember he is soulless. He’s a demon.”
Ava sucked in a breath, fighting back the tears. All her fault.
Something crashed to the floor and Ava turned her head in alarm. Dahlia crouched on the floor, silent tears running down her cheeks. Shards scattered around her where she’d knocked her glass of water to the ground and Jack held her, stroking her hair.
“How can he do that?” whispered Dahlia, “How can that still be Keir?”
“He isn’t,” repeated Eli, exasperation in his tone. “But we will try and get him back.”
“How?” asked Jack.
“Ava is going to try return his soul to him.” Eli gestured at her.
“What do you mean? How can I do that?”
“We have discovered that returning his soul is actually quite simple. Break the crystal near his soulless body and it will return to him,” said Asher.
“What if the soul decides to go free?” whispered Ava.
Asher smiled. “If you are soul-tied to him, it won’t want to. The soul will look for the nearest host. So it can be close to the other soul. Your soul.”
Ava rubbed her face. “I don’t understand so much about souls…Nephilim…demons. I was lied to by the Caelestia, I don’t know anything. I thought all Nephilim were evil. Even those with angel souls. You’re Nephilim?”
Eli nodded. “Yes. But our angel souls are prevalent, not watered down by evil. We desire good. Like the original Nephilim once did, the angels who took on human form. Not the corrupt monstrosities of today who now carry the Nephilim name. They chose to side with the demons, dilute their angel souls with evil ”
“You’re original Nephilim?” She’d read the legends in her book - the angels who rebelled against the Caelestia and now lived in this world. Exiled. Powerful. Nothing was written to suggest original Nephilim still existed.
“This isn’t the time. Yes, we’re strong and we do what’s right. Not what we’re told - good or evil. We managed to recruit some other Nephilim who’d merged with demons. Nephilim like Keir. And we won’t allow Keir’s strength to be given to the Demon Lords,” said Eli severely.
Children walked past the front of the house, chattering and giggling on the way home from school. They played meters away from discussions of hidden things beyond imagining. Original Nephilim, created Nephilim, angels, demons. How much information had been hidden from her, by everyone she encountered?
Dahlia remained on the floor, crying, Jack besides her, trying his hardest to comfort her. The last time Ava had seen them together, Jack would never have done that. He’d held himself away from Dahlia, an invisible barrier between their lives. Something had transformed the couple’s relationship in their short time away, and Ava suspected the change in Jack’s appearance was connected.
“Ava.” Asher regarded her with a sympathetic serenity. “I presume I don’t need to ask you to help with this.”
“You know I will. I never wanted for this to happen. It was him. He…”
“Listen to him,” snapped Eli.
“We need you to return his soul. It won’t be easy and there is an added complication,” continued Asher.
“What?”
“You have an angel soul which can be taken. That’s his true reason for trying to get close to you again,” said Asher.
Ava’s breath hitched in her chest. “You want me to get close to Keir?”
“Yes. It’s not a new task for you as a soul-hunter,” Eli said sharply.
“Don’t forget Darius wants you too. We have discussed this and we have agreed to keep you safe once this is done,” said Asher. “We have already intercepted a number of soul-hunters sent for you.”
Ava knew what he meant by that and swallowed. “I wasn’t hesitating. Just surprised.” She had done this. She had lost Keir. And now she had a chance to get him back. “What happens next?”
“You go back to campus. All of you. And wait,” replied Eli.
“You’re giving me the crystal back?” asked Ava.
Asher shook his head, “Not yet. We’ll call you back when we decide you are close enough to him to succeed.”
Chapter 25
Ava watched Dahlia with curiosity. The small girl sat in the cafeteria, tapping her foot. She fiddled absentmindedly with the empty juice box in front of her, the meal on the tray untouched. She’d returned with Jack the night before, and Ava knew why Dahlia was on edge. She hadn’t seen Keir yet.
“Where’s Jack?” asked Ava, trying to change Dahlia’s obvious train of thought.
“He stayed with Asher. We’re still working on…stuff. He’ll be back tonight.”
“Stuff?”
Dahlia fixed her with a ‘none of your business’ look. “Vampire stuff.”
Ava remembered the pale boy, gradually disappearing into his pallid skin, eyes emptier each time she saw him. Yet, when she’d seen him with Eli and Asher, he’d transformed back into something more akin to vampire than zombie.
“Have you sorted the feeding thing out yet?”
“None of your fucking business,” she snapped.
“Wow, Dahlia. Stressed much? No need to be so rude.”
Ava shivered at the thought of a starving vampire loose in the world. She chewed the inside of her cheek, hoping his change wasn’t anything to do with feeding. She decided it was a good thing Asher and Eli had Jack cocooned somewhere away from the residents of their street.
“How about you? Any word from Darius yet?”
The ground lurched beneath the table. Dahlia’s words pierced the defense she’d created in her mind, the one stopping her thinking about Darius. “He’s sent a soul-hunters but that’s it.”
Dahlia twitched her nose and spun the juice box. “Odd. I would’ve expected the Caelestia to get you by now. I wonder what the reason is.”
The scar on Ava’s back twinged. “It’s harder for them to find me now.”
Dahlia laughed, a short bitter sound. “If they wanted you, there’s no way you’d be sitting there now. There’s a reason.”
Ava opened her mouth to respond, but Dahlia’s widening eyes alerted her to Keir’s arrival. There could be no other reason the girl’s skin paled further. Ava glanced over her shoulder to confirm her suspicion - Keir was standing in the cafeteria doorway. Dahlia and Keir stared at each other, and Ava thought she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes as he shifted his gaze to his feet before looking back to Dahlia.
The juice box crushed between Dahlia’s fingers.
Keir couldn’t resist.
He sauntered over to the two girls, scraped a chair, turned it to face them then sat down. Dahlia’s hand gripped the edge of the table.
“Dahlia. Haven’t seen you for a while. You’re back too then?”
“Evidently.” Her voice chilled the room.
“How’ve you been?” He grinned at her.
Dahlia’s wide eyes narrowed and she breathed in deeply. “Fuck off, Keir.”
To Ava’s delight, Keir looked confused, eyebrows pulling together before his face relaxed back into his smug smile. “That’s not very nice. It�
��s been so long, I wanted to catch up.”
“Fuck off. I don’t know you,” she said, lowering her voice as she noticed a couple of curious onlookers from the adjoining table. Ava forgot, to most students Dahlia was still a mousy girl who barely spoke.
“Dahlia, we’ve shared so much…how can you say this?” His grin mocked her.
“You’re not Keir.”
Keir leaned across the table toward Dahlia, reaching out a hand, ignoring her words. “How’s Jack?”
Without another word, Dahlia pushed back her chair, grabbed her bag and stomped away. Keir watched, the smile not leaving his face. He turned to speak to Ava but she’d gone, following Dahlia.
A flyer pinned to a noticeboard advertised a movie evening and Dahlia leant against the wall underneath, fighting back tears. As she noticed Ava approach she pulled herself forward and started to walk away.
“Dahlia!” called Ava at her retreating back.
“I don’t want to fucking talk to you either,” she called back, not looking around.
A couple of girls nudged each other and giggled as they passed Dahlia in the hallway.
In a few strides, Ava caught Dahlia and reached out to her. “Talk to me. I can see how upset you are.”
Dahlia stopped, eyes furious beneath her tears. “This is all your fault. He should’ve killed you the first time he had a chance. Now he’s lost. You’ve created evil. How does that fit with your angel soul, Ava?”
“Don’t you think I know that? That I wish I’d died too? But I have to fix this, I created it.”
“You’ve got human blood on your hands, now that he’s killed. Nothing would redeem you now.”
Ava blinked, swallowing the hard lump rising in her throat. Dahlia couldn’t see her cry, see the weakness this had caused in her. “When I’ve fixed this, I’ll go. Accept the fate I deserve.”
“You deserve to go to Hell. You have no idea what you destroyed when you annihilated Keir’s morality. Or what you’ve created.” She paused. “Yeah, get his soul back into him but he’ll never come back, not totally. You don’t come back from this.”
