by JL Weil
She smiled, not really annoyed and placed a hand on my cheek. “Regardless of your faults, I love you. Always.”
I let her words settle over me like cool moonlight, and held onto them, because some f’d up hunch told me our love, our bonds were about to be tested.
Intuition just shit on my parade.
Chapter 19
While Angel might not be taking her situation with forethought, I could not get it out of my head. She refused to let it disrupt her life and dragged me to class. Sociology.
Boring, with a capital B.
While Professor Whitmore ranted on and on about human relationships, I was plotting and scheming. Basically the same thing I did in high school, just on a different scale. A much larger scale, gargantuan even.
Reality check, Professor. None of this applies to me, because I’m not human.
The infuriating part was I didn’t have jack. Not a single idea to protect her from a fate like mine, or worse. I wanted to face plant the desk.
As Professor Whitmore gasped for a breath in her lengthy lecture, a whisper in the back of the room caught my attention. I slightly tilted my head, peeking through the corner of my eye. The giggles were coming from two girls in the back of the class. They hadn’t been able to take their eyes of me since the start of class, really since the start of the semester. Out of curiosity mostly, my ears perked up.
I leaned back in my chair, settling in for some juicy eavesdropping. It could go either way. I’d been around long enough to know that invading other people’s conversations wasn’t always a good thing. Sometimes it plain sucked goat balls. People could be nasty. Teenagers could be cruel. The younger Chase Winters spent his youth fighting, being sent to the principal’s office, and compelling his way out of discipline.
Fun times.
“He looks like the kind of guy that mows through girls like a weed whacker,” the one with bleached blonde hair muttered.
I snorted to myself. They couldn’t be further from the truth. I was a one-girl guy.
Angel glanced at me, giving me a funny look, which I returned with a one-brow salute. She shook her head, returning her gaze to the front of the class. I twirled my pen between my fingers and listened.
“I wouldn’t care how many girls he chewed up and spit out, just as long as I got a turn,” her friend purred.
Dang.
This was my kind of conversation. A lazy, feeling-good-about-myself smirk crossed my lips, and I started to think that I just might be very interested in sociology.
By the time two hours had ticked by, I had learned more about the study of human behavior from the two girls in the back than I had from the professor. I stood, sticking my pen behind my ear and gathering my blank notebook. My back was to Angel for five whole seconds, but that was all it took for her to stroll purposefully to the back of the class.
Ah, shit.
Angel slammed her hands down on the table and leaned over, her face shoved up to theirs. The startled expressions on both of the girls led me to believe that Angel was tipping into pre-demon mode. Glowing eyes. Mood swings. Heightened temper.
Her fingers curled on the table. “I catch either one of you eyeballing my boyfriend again and I’ll pop your implants. Got it?” she snapped.
They were stunned speechless, either from being caught more or less eye-banging me during class, or by Angel threatening their anatomy. I grabbed Miss Hot Pants by the elbow and hauled her out of the building before she decided to carry out her threat. The cool air would do us both good. Or so I thought.
Angel turned on me. “I am so going to rip out that brow ring you are so famous for lifting if you don’t stop manhandling me,” she snarled, tugging her arm free from my grasp.
A roguish smile crept out. “Your jealousy is adorable, but unnecessary.”
“I’m mentally duct taping your mouth,” she huffed and started taking long strides down the sidewalk.
Outside, the wind carried more than the autumn bite. Over the smell of burning leaves and damp grass, I got a whiff of trouble. The creepo tingles, the ones I had been hoping would magically disappear, scuttled over me.
I stiffened.
“What now?” Angel asked in exasperation, throwing her arms in the air. She spun in circles, sensing my abrupt apprehension, but one look at me and she knew the answer. “It’s back, isn’t it? Whoever or whatever has been watching us?”
“This whole thing is starting to stink,” I stated, stopping under a wooden light pole.
Her eyes narrowed as she slid me a look. “I hate to be the voice of doom here, but maybe you need to take a psychological selfie. It could be you are letting your paranoia get the better of you.”
I didn’t think so, and from the sudden nerves fluttering from her, neither did Angel. She could see the seriousness reflecting in my sharpened eyes. Something out there wasn’t right, and it wanted us, or at least one of us.
Not happening, you perverted bastard. Go get your cheap thrills elsewhere.
The unsettling feeling didn’t go away. It reached deep inside me, digging in with sharp hooks. My attention drifted beyond, across the street, catching a glimpse of a flash of silver. It whizzed through the air in a slicing formation. My heart skipped at the realization that there was a flying object coming full force at Angel’s face.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Whirling around, I pulled a clueless Angel against my chest, bringing us both down to the pavement. Curving my body over hers, I heard Angel’s sharp inhale. A loud thwack caused her to jerk in my arms, and I tightened my hold. There was a scream, followed by another and another, accompanied by the sound of footsteps pounding the concrete. Lifting my head, my glowing gaze crawled along the road, searching the immediate area. People were looking around confused, fighting against the commotion.
A rumble moved up my chest.
Things were about to get interesting. I wasn’t fond of having weapons thrown at my girlfriend’s head. The demon part of me came roaring to the surface, ready for a fight. Firmly embedded into the light pole was what looked like…a Chinese star?
WTF?
I stood up, unable to believe what I was seeing. The star-shaped weapon was crystalline, encrusted with familiar ruby gems. With one quick tug, I had the unusual object in my grasp. Flipping it over, the milky color reflected off the setting sun.
Amazeballs.
I’d never seen anything like it.
Examining the star from all sides, a rainbow of colors refracted from the light, but I didn’t have time to give it real thought. I needed to get us the heck out of here, and to do that I had to rid myself of this overabundance of anger surging through me. It was a struggle. Throwing serrated stars at someone I loved took balls and was a huge no-no.
“Chase.” Angel placed a hand on my lower back. “There are too many people around. You can’t risk going after whoever did this.”
Knowing she was right didn’t make it any easier to control the urge to rip the flesh from some fool. I shut my eyes, taking long, deep breaths. That crap never worked for me.
Then I heard a growl, and I was pretty sure it hadn’t come from me. It was too throaty and meaty. Only one kind of animal made that noise. Hellhound.
Heat suddenly clogged the crisp air, my eyes snapping open at the same time Angel clung to my arm. Snarling and baring pointy rows of teeth were two hellhounds just inside the perimeter of the woods. “Angel,” I thundered. “What the hell are they doing here?”
“Uh, sorry,” she squeaked. “I guess I panicked.”
I rolled my neck. “So you thought it was a good idea to summon two hellhounds?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t even know that I had until just now.”
Like that made it better.
I scowled. “Send them away before anyone notices. I think whoever was trying to decapitate you is gone.”
She shivered, but a few moments later the two hounds backed off into the woods, giving one last haunting howl.
Some of the tensio
n eked out of my frame. “You’re becoming a demon junkie.”
“A what?” she shrieked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I told you that it was an accident. I didn’t mean to summon them, you big jerk.”
My lips thinned. I wanted to believe her. I really did, except something inside me was holding me back. It could have been because of our connections. She wasn’t lying. I could sense that she really believed it had been an accident. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now, but I suggest we get home before we start World War III.”
Tiny blue flecks of fire leapt into the center of her eyes. “You accuse me of being a demon junkie again and I’ll show you a war.”
My point exactly, but I kept my lips sealed. Something told me that the school board would be against having a demon brawl in their courtyard. “Truce?” I held up a hand.
She exhaled through her nose. “Yeah. I’m too freaked out to harbor my annoyance with you.”
“Does this mean you won’t sic your hellhounds on me?” I asked, putting an arm around her shoulder, attempting to lighten the hostile mood.
I saw her eyes light up even before the words reached her lips. “This time.” We walked a few steps, and it took everything in me not to lift her off her feet and fly home. Lines of thought creased across her forehead. “Who would be dumb enough to mess with us? A half-demon, a hunter, and a demon’s pet—we’re a triple threat.”
The Chinese star felt heavy in my hand. “You have such a bizarre outlook. Anyway, you are forgetting our hunter is pissed at us. And you are not a demon’s anything.”
She bit her lip. “Whatever you say, boss.”
Fortunately, we were only a few blocks from our house, and we made it without any cuts, bruises, or knives in our backs. Success. I didn’t think anything else could kick my heart like having Angel’s life endangered.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Swinging the front door open, I was nearly blinded by the sight that greeted us. Lexi was straddling some dumbass on the couch with his hands gripping her ass cheeks. The cherry on top, his mouth was suctioned to hers in a serious tonsil dance. There was a good chance I would vomit, or kill him. Or both.
A plan started to formulate in my head as I envisioned chopping off each finger, slowly. I was going to lose it. A guy could only take so much excitement before it pushed him over the edge. And I had just been pushed off Mount Everest.
“What the hell is going on here?” I yelled.
Everyone jumped, including Angel beside me. “Uh-oh,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
Lexi, forgetting that there was a human in the room, flew off him in a blurry blink. Her turquoise eyes were large and dilated, cheeks flushed. “It’s not what it looks like. I swear.”
“Oh really? Because it looked like this douchebag had his hands all over you and his tongue so far down your throat he was looking for China.” I couldn’t keep the growl from my voice or from gripping the handle on the door so hard it cracked.
“Chase,” Lexi whined. “You’re being an ass and embarrassing me.”
“I haven’t begun to embarrass you.” I turned my demon glare on the unlucky candidate. “You have ten seconds to get out of my house in one piece.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Look man, nothing was going to happen. We were just messing around.”
My frown tightened. “You think that makes it better? Knowing that you were just messing with my cousin?”
“Chill, dude. That’s not what I meant.” Lover boy’s voice squeaked. Clearly, I made him nervous.
“One. Two…” I started to count off.
Just like that, he was off and running out the door.
“Colin,” Lexi called after him. “I’ll text you later.”
I was about to demand she hand over her phone so I could smash it, when Angel elbowed me. My scowl darkened. Today was not the day to screw with me, not after everything that had happened.
Lexi flipped her blonde hair as she shot to her feet, firing aqua daggers at me. “I thought you wanted me to be happy.”
I rubbed at my throbbing temples. “Lexi, I do. I just don’t want some jerk taking advantage of you.”
She stuck a finger in the center of my chest. “Maybe I want to be taken advantage of. Did you ever think of that? I am not a child anymore. You need to let me make my own decisions. My own mistakes.”
I stared down at her, letting my towering height shadow her. “Fine.”
“Aw! I hate you. You’re ruining my life.” Then she was gone. Poof. The scent of her overpriced perfume was all that was left behind.
I slammed the front door shut with enough force that it shook the foundation. It wasn’t the first time Lexi had claimed to hate me. I ran both my hands through my windblown hair. “Can you believe her?”
Although, I technically asked a question, I hadn’t actually expected an answer. But Angel gave me her opinion whether I wanted it or not. “Yes, I can. Chase, you acted like a total prick.”
“Me?” I paced the length of the floor. “She was the one who was using the couch for bull riding practice.”
She snorted. “And we’ve done worse.”
I opened mouth, and then shut it. She was right. My eyes were drawn to the kitchen where hours ago Angel and I had been doing much more than sharing spit. But this was Lexi. It was hard to get past my cousin getting her freak on.
Christ. If one female wasn’t mad at me, then the other one was. I couldn’t win.
“Why do you look like you’re suckin’ on a lemon?” Angel asked, eyeing me.
I leaned the back of my head against the wall. “Because I will never be able to erase the memory of my cousin sprawled all over what’s-his-face from my mind. I’m going to have nightmares.”
Angel’s wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her chin on my shoulder. “You better go talk to her.”
Her touch was soothing, giving me a clear head. She was right. Being at odds with Lexi was the last thing I needed, and admitting that I’d acted on pure emotion yet again was going to be my college motto. I rounded the top of the stairs, a whole speech rehearsed in my head, but when I got to her room, it was empty. Sheer pink curtains danced in the corner under an open window.
“Shit,” I grumbled, exhaling.
Chapter 20
My initial reaction was to take off after her. It would only take me a minute to get a whiff of her scent and catch up to her. Lexi’s skills on covering her tracks were about as accurate as her tracking.
They stunk.
She was great at many things, but hunting wasn’t one of them. I planted my butt on the edge of her bed, staring out the window into the darkness blanketing the sky, the milky Chinese star still clutched in my hand. I had a choice. I could…
Find Lexi and drag her back home kicking and screaming like a toddler.
Or I could make a phone call to my source, in an attempt to try to uncover information about this never-seen-before weapon.
After all the heat I took for humiliating Lexi and giving Colin the boot, I was leaning toward the less dangerous of the two. The weapon. It was safe to say that it might be best if Lexi and I both had time to cool off.
There was only one other person that came to mind who knew more about weapons than me. Ironically, getting them to talk to me was going to be difficult, if not downright impossible, but I had to bite the bullet. Hell, she might shoot me on sight. It was a gamble I was willing to take.
Maybe we could put our differences aside for one night, grin and bear it for the sake of… Shit, who was I kidding? I couldn’t think of one good reason why Emma would help me. There was a better chance that it would snow in summer. Yet, it wasn’t going to stop me from trying and appealing to the tiniest part of her that might still have compassion, a heart even.
Tapping my thumb against the four-pointed star, I listened as water from the bathroom Lexi and Angel shared ran through the pipes. The sound was like white noise. Calming. Tranquil. Rhythmical.
I pull
ed my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and snapped a few pics of my new toy. Now that my mind was made up, I sent Travis a text, adding one of the pictures.
He was quick to reply. Is this a new hobby?
I gave a chuckle/snort. Hardly. Do me a favor? Show this to Emma and find out if it is a weapon used by hunters.
That’s asking a lot considering… She’s barely talking to me.
I wrote back. You are with her though, right?
The phone lit up in my hand. Hang on.
Setting the phone aside, I sat twiddling the star, studying the engravings along the blades as I waited for Travis to respond. As soon as the phone vibrated, I snatched it off the bed.
She wants to meet flashed across the screen.
I thought about it for a whole minute. There was always the possibility that it was a trap, but it was a chance I had to take if it got me closer to finding out who was taunting us. When and where?
Thirty minutes. At the Underground Café.
I’ll be there. I texted back.
Emma says bring the shurkien.
Shurkien?
She must know what it was, which was both a relief and nerve-racking.
The Underground Café was a twenty-four hour joint that served stale coffee and runny scrambled eggs. It couldn’t compare to the Village Diner back home, but few could. If Emma was agreeing to meet at a public place, I could safely assume she wouldn’t attempt to drive a dagger into my heart.
Slipping the phone back into my pocket, I stood up and walked into the hallway. I didn’t bother with the lights. They were unnecessary when you had night vision. I stopped outside the bathroom door, hearing the splash of water. My fingers turned the knob, and I stuck my face into the open crack with the intent of telling Angel that I was going out, but as soon as I heard her slightly off-key voice singing, I changed tactics. It was a temptation I couldn’t resist.
I pushed the door, letting it slowly swing open as I leaned against the doorframe. Angel was covered with purple bubbles that piled higher than the rim of the tub. Her earbuds were in, the air smelled like a garden, and she was belting the lyrics to what I was pretty sure was a country song.
