Resounding Echo

by Michelle Louring

just as she had left it. The bed with the hideously brown sheets, the old dresser to the left and the wobbly nightstand with the just as wobbly lamp.

  What she wasn’t prepared for was the Demios sprawled across her bed. Possibly naked. He was lying on his back, hands under his head and the blanket draped across the lower half of his body.

  Maybe she should have expected it. Her day had been way too peaceful after all.

  She was faintly aware of her bag dropping to the ground, but her brain was too busy trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

  The part of her mind that usually consisted of her survival instincts told her to be afraid and run. A more logical part told her that if he had been coming to kill her, he probably would have done so fully dressed.

  Unable to make sense of the situation, she just stood paralyzed at the door. Finally she collected herself enough to burst out the only thing she could think off.

  “What the hell are you doing?” She deadpanned. She realized it maybe wasn’t the smartest remark, but it was the best she could handle at the moment.

  A lazy smirk spread across his lips. He slowly sat up and leaned back on his arms. Her eyes flickered to his chest where strong muscles rippled underneath the skin and then down to where the blanket had fallen around his waist. She felt a hot blush creep up her neck and her eyes shot back to his face. It wasn’t that she had never seen a naked man before. She had just never seen anyone like Ardeth.

  He tilted his head and smiled charmingly at her. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

  She blinked a few times. “It looks like you’re lying in my bed…” Her eyes wandered briefly to the blanket that was dangerously close to slipping. “…Naked.”

  “Mmm.” He murmured smiling.

  “How did you even get in?” She asked, before thinking about it. “No, wait, I don’t even want to know. Get out. Now.”

  “That would really defeat the purpose of me breaking in here to begin with.” He said calmly.

  Selissa took a deep breath to prevent herself from breaking into hysteria. She had a mass murderer in her bed. A naked, unbelievably attractive mass murderer.

  Focus, She told herself sternly. Nothing about this guy made sense. First he tried to kill her, and then he decided to save her life. And then this. “What are you after?”

  His eyebrows shut up and he looked down at his naked chest. He looked up at her amused. “I thought that would be fairly obvious…” He said suggestively.

  She was not in the mood to play games. “No… Why are you doing this?” She asked frowning. “One time you’re dead set on spilling my guts on the ground, another time you suddenly decide to save my life. Why?”

  He watched her calmly and ran a hand through his long hair. She noticed that it wasn’t tied into its usual pony-tail, instead spilling loosely down his chest. “Would you rather I tried to bring you to them?” He asked.

  “You’re avoiding the question.” She said. She noticed he said them. Just as that time at the temple, he didn’t seem to consider himself one of them. Despite presenting himself as a Demios the first time they met.

  “Maybe I am…” He said simply, not offering any explanation.

  Selissa watched him coolly. She sighed and went to look out the window in an attempt to clear her head. “If you don’t intend to make up your mind, get out.” She said. “I don’t need this…”

  She heard him get up and come to stand behind her. His proximity made her uneasy, but she reasoned with herself that if he was going to hurt her, he would have already done so.

  “They are going to come for you, you know…” He said quietly.

  She didn’t turn around. “They?” She asked. “Aren’t you one of them?”

  He was silent for some time. “Not everything is cut in stone.”

  She swirled around to face him. “You’re just not going to give me a clear answer, are you?” She sighed. She suddenly realized how close he was standing. She had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes and their chests were almost touching. She looked down and noticed that he had bound the blanket around his hips. For the sake of what was left of her sanity, that was probably a good idea.

  “Now where’s the fun in that?” He asked jokingly and grinned at her. His face was only inches from hers and suddenly she found it hard to breathe.

  “I’m going to go talk to the innkeeper. When I get back, I want you to be gone.” She said as calmly as she could. She pushed at his chest lightly, ignoring the feel of rippling muscles under her hand and went to the door. She went downstairs without looking back, praying that he would be gone when she got back to the room.

  He was.

  35

  Sleep didn’t come easy that night. Every time she was about to drift off, images of corpses and skeletons would appear behind her eyes and she would be startled awake.

  She put her head in her hands and took a shaky breath. Ardeth’s appearance had made it all rush back, ruining her attempt at pretending she would be able to live a normal life.

  She lay awake until she saw the first rays of light begin to shine through the window. Sighing, she gave up and got up. She got dressed and slipped out quietly, careful not to wake anyone.

  The streets were almost empty, only a few vendors preparing to open their shops. She walked aimlessly down the street, enjoying the quietness of the morning.

  But of course it didn’t last.

  For once, her reaction to seeing him wasn’t fear, but pure exasperation.

  “Can’t sleep?” He asked when she approached the place where he was leaning casually against a wall. His black hair was tied so it covered most of his face and hid his tattoo, giving him a slightly less intimating appearance to people who didn’t know it was there.

  “How did you know?” She asked sarcastically.

  “Because you’re awake.” He said simply.

  She couldn’t really argue with that, so she walked on in the naive hope that he wouldn’t follow.

  Of course she wasn’t that lucky.

  He trailed after her with his hands in his pockets. “So this is how you’re going to spend your days?” He asked. “Hiding away in some measly, little town?”

  “It’s none of your business.” She said as calmly as she could. She didn’t want to admit that his words stung. She could tell herself over and over again that she wasn’t hiding, but that didn’t make it true.

  “Maybe not…” He said slowly. “But someone has to tell you.”

  She turned around abruptly and sneered at him.

  “Leave me alone! It’s not my problem anymore!” She said angrily. “I was dragged into all this without knowing anything! I don’t care anymore.”

  He watched her with absolute calm, despite her outburst. “Do you really think you have a choice?” He asked quietly.

  “There’s always a choice.” She said, even though she wasn’t sure she believed that anymore.

  “Not for you.”

  She wanted to cry and scream in frustration. The truth in his words cut through her like a blade and cut down whatever delusions she had managed to make herself believe in.

  “What do you want from me?” She asked defeated. “Tell me.”

  He took a hold of her chin and forced her to look at him. “I want you to fight.” He said seriously, some unknown emotion shining in his dark eyes. “You’re better than this.”

  She felt her anger slowly disappear at the honesty of his words.

  “Why do you care?” She asked softly. “I don’t understand you.”

  He smirked at her. “Not everything has to have a reason.”

  “Well, I have lived most of my life without a reason for anything. For once, having a reason would be nice.” She said. She had never had a reason why she couldn’t remember anything from her childhood. Or why she had that symbol on her back. Just for once, she wanted to know the reason behind something that was happening to her.

  More people had
started crowding the streets and a lot of curious looks were shot their way.

  She realized what they must look like. They were standing so close to each other, talking so seriously. Like lovers making up after a quarrel.

  She stepped back, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Self-consciously, she brushed her hair behind her ear and looked away.

  “People are watching us…” She said softly.

  Ardeth looked around as if he only now noticed that people were watching them curiously.

  “So?” He asked and shrugged a bit.

  “I think they’re misunderstanding the situation…” She said slightly embarrassed. She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt so self-conscious, but for some reason it bothered her.

  Ardeth grinned when he realized what she meant. Before she had any time to register what was happening, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. To her horror, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on the side of her mouth.

  Horrified, she felt her face burning. “What are you doing?!” She shrieked and pushed him away.

  “Giving them something to look at.” He grinned.

  “It’s not funny.” She hissed.

  “I beg to differ…” He said as he looked at her red face.

  The seriousness of their conversation seemed to have dissipated into thin air, so Selissa turned to leave, still blushing from embarrassment and anger.

  She heard Ardeth laugh quietly as she walked away and she considered throwing something at him, but thought better of it. Change in attitude or not, he was still the person she had seen ruthlessly kill seven men. With his own bones.

  Though she was still fuming, she