When he eventually broke the kiss, I gazed up at him, so many questions racing through my mind at once.
What on Earth had just happened? Why had he done that? How had he made me feel that way? I mean, Noah certainly wasn’t the first guy I’d ever kissed… but never once had I ever kissed someone and felt like it wasn’t just our lips touching, but our souls as well.
His arms remained around me, as if he never wanted to let me go. And from the dazed way he was staring back down at me, I knew that the intense connection I’d felt while we’d kissed had been mutual.
Before I could get myself together enough to speak, Noah ripped his gaze away from mine and turned back to the frat boy. “She’s my girlfriend,” he said, his voice huskier than before. “I think that was proof enough.” He didn’t wait for a response before pulling me off the chair and leading me away from the bar. He clasped his hand in mine, not letting go the entire time.
But I knew that look I’d seen in his eyes.
It was the same look he’d given me whenever I asked a question he didn’t want to answer. He was closing himself off—shutting down emotionally.
I refused to let him do that. After a kiss like that, I deserved answers.
“What was that about?” I asked once we were on the opposite side of the room.
He pulled me closer and glanced around the room, his eyes darting around like he was ready to attack at any moment. Finally he refocused on me, although I could tell he was still ready to strike. “I was saving your life,” he said, gripping my hand tighter as he spoke.
“From what?” I asked, since his response didn’t make any sense. “A frat boy who was trying to buy me a drink?”
“That guy wasn’t a frat boy.” He laughed, although I could tell he thought it was anything but funny. “He was the demon.”
17
Raven
“What?” I balked. “No way. That guy couldn’t have been…” I was about to say that he couldn’t have been the demon. But I paused mid-sentence, knowing I was wrong.
Because Eli had been a demon. And when I’d met Eli at the restaurant at the Santa Monica Pier, he’d looked like a typical surfer-dude tourist. Nothing about him looked outwardly demonic.
“He was.” Noah nodded and lowered his lips to my ear, speaking lower so only I could hear. “You can’t see past his glamour. I can. Trust me—he’s the target.”
I blinked a few times, taking it in.
The knowledge that I’d been so close to the demon—that the demon had touched me—erased all the gooey, melty-ness I’d felt from Noah’s kiss.
Well, it didn’t erase the after effects of his kiss completely. But it certainly dampened it.
I didn’t think anything would ever make me forget it completely. Yes, I understood now that Noah was trying to get me away from the demon. But there had to have been other ways to go about that.
Ways that didn’t involve kissing me with so much love and passion that the entire universe ceased to exist around me.
Noah had wanted to kiss me—I had no doubt about that. Kissing me went against all the boundaries I’d set up between us, but he’d ignored that and done it anyway. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. So I definitely still intended on getting some answers about why he’d done that and if he’d felt the same thing I did—the connection between our souls.
After we killed the demon.
Which meant I needed to box up my feelings for Noah for now and only think about the task at hand. Easier said than done, but I needed to try.
“Where’s Sage?” I asked, trying my hardest to get focused again.
“She’s still scoping out upstairs,” he said.
I glanced upstairs, knowing that Sage wasn’t going to find the demon there. Then I glanced back to the bar. My heart dropped to my feet when I saw that the demon was no longer sitting where we’d left him.
I scanned the area and spotted him heading toward the exit.
“He’s leaving.” Anxiety clawed at my stomach at the thought of him getting away. “Aren’t we going to stop him?”
“I’m going to stop him,” Noah said. “You’re going to wait right here.”
He looked at me with such intense determination that I had no choice but to nod that I understood. He must have trusted that I’d listen, because he untangled his fingers from mine and walked toward the demon.
I shook out my hand—I hadn’t realized how tightly Noah had been holding it until he let go. It didn’t feel like I’d get the circulation back in my fingers for the rest of the night.
Once Noah was about ten feet behind the demon, the demon stopped in his tracks.
He looked at Noah, and then back at me. His eyes were hard, and for a second I could have sworn that I’d seen a glint of red coming off of them. It could have just been the light… but I knew it was more.
Because demons had red eyes. Now that I knew what he was, I must have been seeing the true color of his eyes.
And for some reason, he’d zeroed in on me. Not just now, but earlier at the bar.
He was after me. I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew just as much as I knew that the kiss between Noah and me had meant something real.
Instead of continuing toward the exit, the demon pivoted and walked toward where the band was playing at the corner nearby.
Noah remained where he was for a few seconds, his eyes still on the demon. Then he headed back to me. He positioned himself with his back to the wall so he could keep watch over the demon and pulled me close to him.
“We can’t attack in here,” he said, his voice low. “It’ll draw too much attention to us and put too many humans at risk. We have to wait until he leaves, follow him out, and launch our attack from there.”
“So what do we do until then?” I forced myself to focus on the issue at hand and not on how close Noah’s body was to mine. “Just stay here and wait?”
“Yep,” he said. “Another rule of demon hunting—it’s not fun and games all the time. Sometimes, we have to set up a good, old fashioned stakeout and wait around for the right time to strike.”
“Makes sense.” I glanced back over at the demon.
Every so often, he would glance back over at me, although he’d turn back around so quickly that I wouldn’t have noticed unless I was already aware of him. And he was definitely looking at me—not at Noah.
Which was when I had a crazy idea.
“I’m going to go upstairs and find Sage,” I told Noah. “She needs to be updated on what’s happening.”
“I can send her a message,” he said.
“How?” I asked. “I mean, to send a text, you have to be able to read…” I trailed off, feeling bad about bringing it up. It wasn’t Noah’s fault that he grew up without being taught how to read or write. He’d have to learn sometime, but obviously hunting down the ten demons was his priority for now.
“We use voice messages.” He didn’t look at me when he spoke, and silence lingered between us.
Since he’d hidden the fact that he couldn’t read from me as long as possible, I assumed he was ashamed.
“It’s not your fault,” I said softly. “I don’t know the situation you grew up in, but you’re smart. Once you have time to sit down and learn to read, I’m sure it’ll come to you easily.”
His eyes softened for a moment. But then he shrugged and did another survey of the bar, putting up his shield once again.
“I want to go upstairs and get Sage,” I said, trying to think of an excuse that wasn’t the truth—that I was going to suggest a plan to Sage that Noah was totally going to hate. “When I was at the bar, that guy really creeped me out.” I shuddered, since it was true—the fact that the demon had approached me and touched me did creep me out. “I just want to take a breather for a few minutes. If he tries anything while I’m up there, you can handle it, right?” I smiled and gave him my biggest doe eyes, hoping it would win him over and get him to cave.
I didn’t like manipulating him like
this. But there was no way he’d be okay with the plan I was formulating… and there was a chance that Sage might jump on board. So I had to tell her my idea. And I had to do it quickly, since none of us knew how long the demon would stay in this bar.
He nodded, seeming to accept my reasoning. “I’ll walk you to the stairs,” he finally said. “Come on.”
“You don’t think I can make it to the stairs by myself?” I rolled my eyes.
“You probably can,” he said. “But remember your promise earlier?”
That I’d do as he said so he could keep me safe. How could I forget?
“All right,” I agreed, since I needed to pick and choose my battles. “We’ll be back down in a few minutes. If the target leaves, send a voice message. Okay?”
“Of course.” He smirked, a determined glint flashing in his eyes. “After I’ve finished following him and vanquishing his ass.”
18
Raven
Sage was finishing up her walk around the upstairs area of the bar and was about to head back down when I found her.
“Raven?” she said when she saw me. “What’re you doing up here? Noah told you to wait at the downstairs bar…”
“Noah found the demon,” I said quickly. “Well, the demon found me.”
“What do you mean?” Suspicion crossed over her gaze, and she looked around, clearly not wanting to be overheard.
Luckily, everyone else was either too drunk or too engrossed in conversation to be paying attention to what we were talking about. Because if anyone were listening in, it would have sounded pretty weird.
It still sounded weird to me, even though I knew about the supernatural world.
I pulled her to the bathroom—it was a single-holer, so we had privacy—and quickly updated her on everything that had happened downstairs. Well, I updated her on everything except for the way that Noah’s kiss had made me feel like I was melting in his arms. My feelings toward him felt too private to share. Plus, this was a planning session—not a gossip session. There was a demon in this bar right now. We couldn’t get distracted.
“Noah kissed you?” she said once I’d finished.
So much for not getting distracted.
“He wanted the demon to think I was taken and move onto another target.” I shrugged, wanting to take the attention off that kiss. I wasn’t sure when I’d be comfortable discussing it—if ever—but it certainly wasn’t now. “That’s why I came to talk to you—because this is the second demon who’s found me in a bar and specifically targeted me.”
Her phone pinged with a voice message. Noah. I nodded for her to take it, and she pressed play.
“The demon just headed upstairs,” his recorded voice played back at us. “I have to stay down here to make sure he doesn’t have a chance to leave. It’s too public up there for the demon to try anything, but Sage, you better keep Raven safe.” He sounded worried at the end there… and kind of threatening, too. It was like he was warning Sage that she didn’t want to find out what he’d do if she failed at keeping me out of the demon’s clutches.
Sage and I looked at each other, understanding passing between us.
“So… there’s something about you that the demons want.” She lowered her voice—probably to make sure the demon couldn’t hear us through the door.
“Bingo,” I said, matching her hushed tone. “He’s after me, just like Eli. Maybe it’s also connected to why the demons are after my mom. I mean, we share the same DNA, so it would make sense that there’s something about us that the demons want. Right?”
“The same human DNA,” Sage said. “I’ve already told you—you and your mom don’t smell different than any other humans. Plus, you drank the cloaking potion. Even if there is something about you that the demons are tracking, you should be off their radar now.”
“Yet this is the second time I’ve been targeted.” I placed my hands on my hips, unwilling to let her brush it off so easily. “He came right up to me at the bar. It can’t be a coincidence.”
She took a few seconds to think about it. “Noah’s not going to like this,” she finally said. “He’s determined to keep you alive, and if the demons are targeting you, it puts you more at risk.”
“It does.” I spoke faster, excited now that I’d figured out a way to make myself useful. Or maybe I was just scared. The two emotions were blurring together so much that I couldn’t tell them apart anymore. “But if I’m right that I’m being targeted—which I’m pretty sure I am—I was hoping we could use it to our advantage.”
“How?” she asked.
“Easy.” I smiled. “By using me as bait.”
A few minutes later, we had a plan.
“Noah’s really not going to like this,” Sage said, although she smiled anyway—she was excited for what we were about to do. “But I think it’ll work. So here it goes.”
She took out her phone and replied to Noah’s voice message with a voice message of her own. “Raven and I have a plan,” she said once it started recording, continuing on to give him his exact instructions. It was crazy enough that it might work. Once done telling him what to expect, she sent the message and placed her phone back in her purse.
Then we linked arms and walked out of the bathroom.
The demon was standing directly across the way, waiting his turn at the upstairs bar. But he was watching the bathroom door—clearly waiting for us.
He looked so unassuming in his preppy, frat guy clothing. It really was the perfect disguise for a demon on the prowl.
Internally, I shuddered with disgust. Externally, I plastered on a mega-watt smile and led Sage toward him.
If he was surprised we were approaching, he didn’t show it.
“Hey again,” I said once we reached him, tossing my hair over my shoulder in a way I hoped looked flirtatious. “Sorry about earlier. My ex can be a real jerk sometimes.”
He stared at me—now that I knew what he was, I could tell that there was no trace of humanity in his gaze. “Ex?” he asked, tilting his head slightly to show he didn’t fully believe me. “From that little display downstairs, it didn’t look like he was your ex.”
“It’s complicated.” I waved a hand in the air, hoping to make it clear that I didn’t want to discuss it. “By the way, I’m Rose. This is my friend Sarah.” I’d already learned during the long car ride from LA to New Orleans that while interacting with demons, we gave ourselves fake names to protect our real identities. Those were the names we’d decided on for this hunt. Noah’s fake name was Nick.
“Nice to meet you.” He focused on me, barely paying Sage any attention. It was like she was invisible. “I’m Joe.”
It took all of my effort not to laugh, since clearly, this demon’s real name wasn’t Joe.
“Hi, Joe,” I said, twisting a strand of my hair around my finger. “I didn’t mean to be so stingy at the bar. When I saw that my ex was here, I got sort of uptight. Ya know?” I sounded like a ditzy valley girl, but whatever. The more I could sell it, the better.
“I understand.” He smiled and leaned closer, looking like I’d just dropped the world’s best present into his lap. “But hey, this isn’t the only bar in town. What do you think about checking out someplace else? Someplace where your ex isn’t hanging around ready to pounce?”
I smiled right back at him. That had been easier than expected.
It also meant that this was really happening.
Nerves bundled inside my stomach. But I swallowed them down, forcing myself to stay calm.
“That sounds great,” I said, somehow managing to sound excited as I motioned to the exit. “Please, lead the way.”
19
Raven
I half expected Noah to come running up the stairs to stop Sage and I from going through with this, or to block us from exiting the bar.
Much to my relief, he went along with the plan—he was on the other side of the bar when we came down the stairs. He was pretending not to notice us, but I knew he was aware of o
ur every move.
Once we left the bar, I also trusted that he wasn’t far behind.
Joe stopped walking once we reached a side alley.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked.
“I know a cool place, but the fastest way to get there is through here,” he said with a mischievous smile. “You girls game for an adventure?”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. That couldn’t seriously work on people… could it? What girl would be dumb enough to walk into a dark, deserted alley with a guy she’d just met at a bar?
Judging by the way Joe seemed to think this was totally normal, I guessed the ploy had worked for him before.
There were some truly stupid people in this world.
And right now, I had to pretend to be one of them.
“I’m always game for an adventure.” I matched his grin with one of my own.
There was going to be an adventure all right—just not the one he was planning on.
“Fantastic.” He led the way into the alley, fiddling with his watch as he walked.
Sage and I gave each other knowing smirks behind his back and followed his lead.
“It’s just this way…” He stopped again, pointing down a second alley branching off from the one we were in.
We just nodded—playing the part of innocent, trusting girls—and continued on. This alley was full of dumpsters and overflowing bins, and it smelled like rotting garbage. It reminded me of the alley behind the restaurant on the Pier that I’d been dragged into the night I was attacked.
Apparently, the demons had a system going on here.
Once we were halfway down the alley, the demon grabbed my wrist with his supernatural strength and held me in place. At the same time, he reached for a knife with his other hand and moved to slice Sage’s neck.
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 21
