by Lisa Swallow
Memories of Jack, his insistence he was evil, telling them Dahlia should keep away crossed Ava’s mind, but she resisted the urge to use this as a comeback. But the truth was Jack killed people and he’d come back. Mostly.
“Nothing you could say to me would make me feel any worse than I do. This haunts me all day, everyday. And the hardest part is he chose this himself. I fought with him, tried to stop him. And nobody fucking believes me.” Ava heard her voice crack.
Not wanting to become a sobbing wreck in front of Dahlia, she spun around and walked off, perspiration pooling down her back.
She had to confront Keir, begin what she’d been told to do by the other Nephilim. Get close to him. Give him back his soul. If he didn’t take hers first.
The hallway had quieted as she headed back to the cafe. Keir leaned nonchalantly against the wall outside, watching the girls who passed with glittering eyes. One of them stopped to talk to him, a girl with chestnut hair she tossed over her shoulder as she flirted with him. Keir’s gaze followed her as she continued on her way, his hungry lust barely disguised.
He was looking for another victim and if Ava didn’t interfere she’d be responsible.
The unwanted jealous heat filled Ava and she fought it. The emotional tie pulling her to him needed cutting or she’d fail. Aware she watched him, Keir grinned and crossed the hallway to her.
“Where’s Dahlia?” he asked.
“Gone. She’s got nothing to say to you.”
Keir smoothed his fringe from his eyes, as he smiled broadly at another girl who passed and said hello. Ava flinched. “Where’ve you been, Ava? You’ve not been to class for a few days.”
“Why? Did you miss me?”
“I always miss you, do you miss me?”
She had to keep her composure. Be the other Ava. “Not really. I told you once before - I’m not a big fan of homicidal demons.” She shrugged her bag onto her shoulder and walked past him, bumping into him as she did.
Keir caught up to her, walking backwards so he could look at her. “Scared of me?”
“No,” scoffed Ava, “There’s worse things I have to be scared of than you.”
Keir put out a hand, stopping her. “What have they asked you to do?”
“Who?”
“My old friends, Asher and Eli. I know that’s where you’ve been. Again. Zach keeps a close eye on you. I hope you told them I’ve moved on.”
“Gone backwards, I wouldn’t call killing moving on.”
Keir rolled his eyes. “Let’s not go there again, Ava, it’s all a question of semantics as I said. Humans, demons, angels – no one deserves to be killed.” He moved his face closer to hers. “Do they?”
“Did you know this would happen if you lost your soul?” she blurted.
“What?”
“That you’d become so evil!” Ava’s breathing sharpened in response to his proximity.
He wrinkled his nose. “I knew I’d not be the good guy. Yeah, I’m a bit surprised by how much I enjoy all this though. It’s like someone’s taken a blindfold off.”
Dizziness washed through Ava’s head, how could he say this?
Keir reached out a hand and rubbed his thumb along her cheek. “Anyway, have you changed your mind about indulging in that fun we missed out on?”
This wasn’t working, he’d got the upper hand so quickly she’d hardly had time to think. They were back there again, the two people by the fountain. Only this time she knew he would kill her if he got the chance.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Ava stepped backward.
“Shame.” He scanned the hallway. Deliberately, he ran his gaze up and down an attractive blonde girl approaching. The girl smiled coyly at him and he winked.
“You disgust me,” spat Ava.
She walked off, furious with herself for letting the opportunity go. Stupidly, she’d thought she could get past her old feelings for him and find the old soul-hunter Ava. A tiny piece of her couldn’t accept she wasn’t dealing with the same Keir. She needed to convince herself there was no soul to tie them. Keir was evil, and Ava had to stop him.
Chapter 26
Ava wandered across the campus, trying not to think about anything, blasting music in her ears from her iPod. She’d been patrolling for Keir again, and for the past three days she couldn’t find him in the evenings. Thankfully, she’d not seen him with any girls - apart from the ones caught in his gravitational pull, vying for attention.
Someone grabbed her arm and she immediately spun round to seize her attacker in a headlock. Jack’s brown eyes looked at her in surprise, and he pulled one of Ava’s earphones from her ear. Ava let go and yanked out the other, letting the wires fall across her shoulders.
“For fuck’s sake, Jack - what are you doing?”
“Dahlia…”
“What about her? Where is she?”
“She’s gone to look for Keir.”
Ava tensed. “What? What the fuck for?”
“I keep telling her to leave it, and she can’t get through to him - it’d be dangerous to try but she’s obsessed.” Jack chewed his nails, dull eyes wide.
“Did she say where she was going?”
“No.”
Ava inhaled deeply. “We need to find her before she finds him, she doesn’t know what he’s capable of.”
“You don’t need to tell me that,” snapped Jack.
Ava pulled her phone out of her pocket and thrust it at Jack. “Call Asher, I’ll start looking.”
Before he had a chance to respond, Ava stormed away, running through her head all the places she’d seen Keir recently. She’d watched him, waited. Did as she’d been told to by Asher and Eli. What the hell did Dahlia think she was doing? They never bargained Dahlia would be stupid enough to go after him alone. Ava groaned. If Dahlia fought Keir, Dahlia would lose. And lose her soul.
The skies grew dark, and the evening set in, stars pricking the night sky. Ava waited by the fountain for Jack to reappear. The vampire sloped toward her, face down and Ava again wondered what had happened when he and Dahlia went away. His yellow hue had returned to translucence and his eyes were brighter. The possibility crossed her mind he wasn’t any safer to the campus inhabitants than Keir.
“Did you get hold of Asher?” asked Ava
“Yeah, he said don’t you try and do anything to Keir. Just retrieve Dahlia.”
“Does he know where they are?”
Jack shook his blond hair. “He suggested we try places they used to go together.”
Ava rubbed her head. “I only ever saw them on campus or at the Coffee Place. I doubt they’d be there.”
“It’s a start?”
*
Dahlia chewed a loose fingernail as she watched Keir and Zach, waiting for Zach to leave. They were sitting beneath a large wooden gazebo, on metal benches. They’d obviously chosen the spot for the privacy. Located on the top edge of the park and out of range of the nearby street lamps, the shadowed figures blended into the darkness beneath the roof. She’d watched them meet at the park every day for a week, plucking up the courage to approach Keir after Zach left. Each night she lost her bravery and went home.
Tonight.
As Zach moved silently away into the trees, Dahlia held her breath, waiting to see what Keir would do. He remained seated under the old gazebo looking down at his boots. Hesitantly, Dahlia approached, fighting down the fear pushing bile into her throat.
“Hey, Dahlia.” Keir didn’t look up.
Dahlia halted.
“Why do you follow me here every night then not get close enough to hear what me and Zach talk about?”
“I’m not interested in what you talk about. I just want to talk to you.”
A light shone across from the gazebo, illuminating a nearby bench but not quite stretching into the space Keir occupied. In the shadows, Dahlia couldn’t make out his expression.
“Come and talk to me then.”
Dahlia hesitated.
“Why are you do
ing this, Keir?”
“Doing what?”
He rose and walked down the small steps toward her. She folded her arms across her chest, watching him warily.
The man standing in front of her was Keir. How could he be anyone else? Dahlia wanted to cry, reach out to touch his face, and reconnect with the man who’d rebuilt her life when she lost Jack. The man who had been part of her waking life every day since they’d met. He couldn’t be what they said, she’d seen him do so much good.
“I don’t believe you’re evil, Keir,” she said softly, “I don’t believe you killed those people.”
What did they know - any of them - he was hers before they’d met him. Her surrogate family, the brother she’d never had.
“I did kill them. And I’ll kill more.”
The ground lurched and the evening chill increased as a coldness ran through her veins. No. He lied. “I don’t believe you.”
“Dahlia, what’s not to believe? I’m Nephilim. It’s what we do.”
“Not all of you. Not you.”
The two friends faced each other in the shadows, the small woman gazing up at the tall man, unthreatened by his presence. Keir crossed his arms over his chest, digging his hands into the leather of his jacket.
“You should leave, I’ve given you enough chances.”
“Chances?”
He leaned toward her. “Each night you come here, and each night Zach sees you too. And then the following evening he asks me where your soul is.”
Dahlia took a small step backwards. “What?”
“I haven’t taken your soul yet and I’m running out of excuses.”
“That! That proves you’re still Keir. You haven’t hurt me yet!”
Keir laughed, the low, bitter sound echoing around them. “No, it means I’m wary of who is near you, whether you’re a trap for me. I need to be sure you’re unprotected. Are you?”
Increasing doubt flickered at the edges of Dahlia’s mind. “No, you’d have attacked me before.”
“You still have an angel soul, you know how precious that is to me and my kind.”
“No, you don’t take souls Keir, you release them.”
Keir breathed out heavily, an exasperated noise. “No. Not anymore. That isn’t me. Fuck, Dahlia - have you spoken to Ava at all?”
“I try not to. You know that.”
“Things aren’t the same, they never will be. This is who I am now.” He moved toward her again, digging his hands into his pockets. “Get away from me. I will hurt you.”
The tears hovering in the backs of Dahlia’s eyes spilt as she looked into the empty face of the man in front of her. Her stomach churned, the aching emptiness left inside her the night Jack died replicated. “Keir…”
“Tears, Dahlia? Really?” he mocked.
Righting herself in the chilling new world, Dahlia screamed at him, crying and swearing like a wounded animal. She shoved him hard in the chest, the blow not shifting him an inch. Keir caught her hand and he pushed her back and Dahlia stumbled to keep her footing. Her mind threw her back to the night with Jack. The night the demons came, when Keir stepped from nowhere and pulled her to safety. From demons like the one stood in front of her.
“For fuck’s sake, Dahlia, just go!” he yelled, “You’re annoying me and that’s making things worse.”
“You won’t be like this forever! We’ll get your soul back!” she shouted back.
Keir stiffened. “What?”
“Asher and Eli - they’re trying to find a way.”
Keir rubbed his cheek and laughed. “Tell them they’re wasting their time - I don’t want my soul back. Not unless they give it to me nicely packaged to give to Zach.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I was weak, my soul tying me to a soul-hunter and to humanity before her. They come near me, I’ll fucking kill them too.”
The vehemence in Keir’s voice ramped up Dahlia’s anxiety. Seeing his anger growing in his contorted face, she knew she had to leave. Keir watched Dahlia for a moment then crossed to her and grabbed her by the arms, holding her so she couldn’t move.
“I won’t stop at you - I’ll be coming for the others too. You’re all pathetic and wasting your time!”
Dahlia yelped in pain as he squeezed her arms, trying to fight against his iron grip. “Keir…”
The ground slammed into Dahlia’s back as Keir threw her and she rolled, getting ready to run. For the first time since she’d given up her soul-hunter status, Dahlia longed for her old physical strength. She would be lost against him. Keir pushed her again and she landed face down on the hard ground, breathing heavily, as she sensed him moving closer to her.
*
Ava ran through the park, breath tearing at her lungs, Jack moving preternaturally through the night besides her. This was the last place they could think to look. Jack mentioned Dahlia went on evening walks, and had been cagey about telling him she was walking in the park. Ava smacked Jack across the head when he divulged the information, stunned this hadn’t occurred to him as something to do with Keir. Biting her tongue, Ava dragged Jack toward the park.
Hyde Park wasn’t the largest in the city but big enough to take several minutes to circumnavigate, even at the speeds Ava and Jack could travel at. People often sat on the expansive grass in the daytime, or walked dogs along the tree-lined pavements. At night, the park became shrouded in darkness, a place of social activity becoming a no-go area. The thickly wooded areas held horrors of their own, the scene of assaults in the past. Ten minutes of running through the pitch black, from end to end, they stopped beneath a lamp post at the edge of the area.
“This soul-tie thing - can’t you tell where she is?” asked Ava, out of breath.
“No.” Jack held himself stiffly. “I am trying to sense her though.”
“Sense her?”
Jack huffed. “I’m a demon, she has an angel soul. I can sense her if she’s close.”
“And? Is she close?”
Jack shook his head and kicked a stray soda can on the ground in front of him.
“So we keep going!” insisted Ava, “I’m sure this must be where she’s gone.”
In the gloom of the evening, Ava could see the defeat in Jack’s stance. His head hung down but not because of the cold, he didn’t feel the cold. She reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
“Will Keir kill her?”
Ava wished she knew the answer to the question, and not having one she said nothing, walking toward an area of the park they’d not searched yet. As she strode on, Jack caught up to her and they marched onwards.
“Wait,” he said.
They paused beneath the canopy of a large evergreen tree, branches bending over them, obscuring their view.
“What?”
“Listen.”
All Ava could hear was the rustling of the leaves around her. “Umm. Vampire hearing? Don’t have it.” She pulled a face as his fingers dug into her arm. “Can you hear them?”
Eyes wide, Jack inclined his head, wandering onwards as if magnetically pulled away from Ava.
“Jack!” she hissed, “Wait!”
“Over there… Fuck!”
And he was gone, his form flashing across the darkened grass, as Ava strained her eyes after him. She picked up her pace, sprinting in the same direction until she heard voices and slowed. If Jack had plunged into danger, she wasn’t following him without testing the water.
Stepping beneath another tree, Ava watched three figures in the shadows. She sighed in relief - Keir was on his own with Jack and Dahlia. She headed toward them. Keir and Jack faced off against each other, circling like animals planning the best line of attack, as Dahlia picked herself off the floor.
Ava cursed Asher and Eli for not yet giving her the soul gem. Distracted like this, Keir would have been an easy target.
Keir lunged at Jack who deftly sidestepped him, so Keir moved toward Dahlia instead. Before he could touch her, Jack slamm
ed into Keir and knocked him out of the way. Despite their size difference, Jack’s strength as a supernatural combatant equaled his and Keir landed with a thud, breath knocked from his lungs. As the two men continued to dance around each other, Dahlia crawled away, toward the nearest tree. Ava glanced at the fight in front of her before moving across the remaining distance between her and the others to Dahlia.
Tears streaked Dahlia’s dirty face and, on seeing Ava, her face crumpled.
Tentatively, Ava touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
“He didn’t hurt me.” Dahlia gulped in air. “But he would. He was going to kill me.”
The fear in Dahlia’s face sent a shiver through Ava’s body. Keir was prepared to kill Dahlia. If this was the case, no one was safe.
“Jack stopped him?”
“Yes. Help him, Ava.”
Ava looked between Dahlia and the standoff between Keir and Jack.
“Please. He’ll kill Jack.” Dahlia’s voice broke into a sob.
The clouds cleared the moon and the new light shone down on the adversaries opposite them, illuminating Keir’s angry face. He hadn’t noticed Ava, attention fixed on Jack. Ava rose and walked over, casually standing next to Jack.
Keir halted for a second then smiled, a slow sneer creeping across his face. “Ava, I should’ve know you wouldn’t be far away. Did you bring my soul?”
“No.”
“Pity. I’ve got plans for it.”
Next to her, Jack’s breathing was ragged, a growl accompanying each new breath.
“Jack, leave it,” she muttered.
“I wouldn’t have touched her if she’d stayed away,” said Keir, loudly, looking in Dahlia’s direction.
“Fuck off, Keir,” said Jack.
“Yeah, I’m not hanging around with you two. I’m bored now.” He turned to Ava. “Dahlia tells me you and my old friends have plans to reunite me with my soul. Pass a message on. Tell them to leave the fuck alone.”
As he turned and walked away, Jack made to pursue him but Ava pulled him back. “Leave it, there’s no point getting into a fight with him. Even if we won, what could we do? We don’t have the crystal.”
Jack shrugged her off.
“Jack?”
He turned to Dahlia’s voice and went over to her, kneeling down and pulling her into his arms.
