“You seemed fine with it,” I answered, angrily.
A crack of thunder didn’t hide the menace in his voice. “All the things I’ve seen and forgiven that you did. Kissing every guy that comes within ten feet of you and you can’t trust me?” His blue eyes were incredulous.
Turning my head to the side, his words stung like a slap. He was right. “You know what, whatever,” he said waving me off as he walked away from me.
“Luke,” I called out just as lighting stuck. The crack in the air covered my plea. He was inside his car by the time I wiped the rain from my face.
When he didn’t peel out of the lot, my heart rebounded. Then Flynn’s truck doors opened, both of them. I saw Blondie make a dash for Luke’s car again.
“Mercy,” Flynn called out. The new me crumbled under the pressure. This was too much. Blondie was gorgeous. I hadn’t allowed myself to see it. Her features were in perfect alignment. I couldn’t compete with her. She was perfectly proportioned according to the wet clothes that clung to her body like second skin. Turning, I walked, squishing through the mud and melting snow that was the mess of the school’s front lawn. I should call Maggie. However, I didn’t. I needed to think.
“Mercy.” This time it was Luke’s voice that rang out.
I moved with more vigor. My eyes were downcast into the earth because the suction of mud threatened to draw my shoes off my feet. Then arms stopped me. I looked up to meet Sebastian’s eyes. He hadn’t been at school. I didn’t think I mentally called him either.
“You want to get out of here?” he asked.
I nodded. If ever there was a time, now was it. Taking his hand, I followed him into the trees against Flynn and Luke’s protest. He could teleport us out of there. But there were humans to consider. I heard the slaps of feet in the puddled ground, probably Luke or Flynn coming after me. Maybe neither since they were both mad at me. But Sebastian had me in his arms and traveling his way before I could make out the voice that called my name.
Chapter Seventeen
Where I landed was anyone’s guess. It smelled earthy and pungent, also wet, like morning dew or mist. But everything was dark and a chill ran in the air. It wasn’t the cold like home, but it had a clammy sort of feel.
A torches lit up all at once and I was encased in stone walls. The ceiling was high above and the chandelier and wall lights held candles. It felt medieval. Where had Sebastian taken me?
“Kayla, welcome to my home,” he said with a wide grin.
“Where are we?” I asked mystified. Had he taken us back in time? Could he do that?
He stood in front of me drenched in long sleeve and jeans. “Scotland, where else?”
Before I could utter words of rebuke, he hauled me up a stone staircase by my hand. Winding, winding, we went up past tapestries on the walls that looked as old as the building we were in. They depicted scenes of violence and war, blood and gore, nothing sweet and gentle. We ended up in a bedroom fill with a wooden four poster bed that was large and weighty. I couldn’t guess how it had gotten up the winding narrow passageway. Sebastian handed me a towel. “You’re wet, lass. You should dry off; this castle is drafty and old.”
Castle? Okay, if that didn’t freak me out as much as being in Scotland, my mom was so going to kill me. “You have to take me home. I’m grounded,” I muttered, toweling myself off. It felt so stupid to say that to him. We weren’t human. Why was my mom making me play by human rules?
Grinning, he flipped out his phone. I looked at it and wondered if it would work. Did he have an international phone? A few swipes and he said, “Julie, I just wanted to let you know that Mercy is with me. I’ll have her home soon. She was concerned about not making it home on time.” Pause. “Okay.” He held out the phone to me.
“Mom,” I said more petulantly than required. I didn’t know how I was going to explain where I was without her flipping out.
“Mercy, is Luke there?” she asked.
“No,” I answered quickly and sounded very annoyed like I felt.
“Fine. Make sure you are home by curfew.”
What? That was it. No ‘where are you?’ as long as I wasn’t with Luke? “Okay,” I mumbled.
Then she hung up. Confused, I handed the phone back to Sebastian who looked rather pleased with himself.
“Tell me why you were running this time.” He came closer and I took small steps back. Chuckling, he said, “After all this time, you don’t trust me.”
I stopped. He was right. He could have taken me at anytime. He could have brought forth McKayla who would love nothing more but to give my virginity to him. But he hadn’t done any of that.
Keeping about six inches between us, he slid his hands in his pocket of his jeans leaving his thumbs out. He almost looked innocent, almost. Licking his lips, he lowered those blues on to me like a gauntlet. The connection between my brain and my body was severed. Being surrounded by attractive guys, you think I’d be used to it. But when their focus was solely on me, it was hard to ignore. “You’re wet too,” I said, looking at how the shirt clung to him. Smiling, with one hand he pulled the shirt over his head letting it fall with a thud to the stone cold floor.
“Care to dry me off?” he asked, the smirk said there was nothing more that he’d rather I do. I was sure he got his way most of the time. His penetrating stare caused my face to heat. I turned, not wanting to look at him anymore. A wicked chuckle crooned out of him. “So why the SOS?”
I turned to look at him. “What SOS?” His answer was a lifted brow. “Why’d you come then? You haven’t been at school in a while?”
“I’m taking care of things. You haven’t been bothered recently?”
I had, but not by demons and I was pretty sure that was what he meant. “Not by anything inhuman,” I responded.
“So why the bat signal?” Looking down, trying to avoid his stare, I caught sight of his chest. He was built like a biology mannequin. Every muscle was defined to perfection down to the V that led further past the hemline of his low slung jeans. I swallowed. Closing my eyes, I forced back the feelings that were stirring within me. My demon was coming to life.
“I didn’t call for you,” I said and looked back at his face, which was safer.
His hand left his pocket and played with a strand of hair that had fallen in my face. After looking at it, he pushed it behind my ear. “Ah, you didn’t say my name, but I felt your distress.”
Tenderly, his hand touched my cheek and I shrugged away from him. I wasn’t going there with him no matter how desirable he was. “It was nothing.”
“Nothing,” he said with an arched brow. “You were so eager to get away from Luke. What did the Golden Boy do? Did he finally show his true colors?” Wondering what he knew, I searched his eyes with near panic. “Aye, so he did do something.”
If that was a question, I wasn’t fully sure. “Some girl threw herself at him today and he didn’t quite seem to not enjoy it.” My words were a mess. But so was I. Luke didn’t deserve me running off. It was a rash decision. How was I going to explain why I left?
He chuffed, and said, “You’re being with him is only going to end him.”
There was something in the way he looked at me that said he knew how things would end. “What do you know?” I demanded.
Making a noise that almost sounded like a snicker, he said, “I don’t know much more than you do. My father didn’t send me here with yours or his fate. I am to watch over you and make sure you survive.”
“I don’t believe you,” I accused. If I could have a dime for every time someone refused to give me any answers, I’d be a millionaire by now.
Shaking his head like he pitied me, he said, “As much as you don’t want to accept who you are, you must. Luke is cut from angel cloth. You are glued together by demon blood. Don’t be a silly little human girl who believes in fairytale love. There will only be death at the end of this story.”
I turned away and headed to the single window. The only reason I kne
w that it was there was the light around the tapestry that hung over it. Peering out into the faded light, I looked over rolling green hills and wondered when was the last time I saw so much unencumbered land. “There is nothing wrong with falling in love.”
“Love is for humans,” he said, sounding closer. Yet I hadn’t heard him move.
“You just called me human.” I looked back at him, letting the tapestry fall back in place taking the light and my dreams away with it. I knew he was right. I’d already damned Luke. But there was no way I could justify leaving him for his own good now. The damage was already done.
Rolling his eyes, he said, “You act like one, so I forget.”
I once again looked outside. The air was fresh and it felt different. “What year is it?” I asked casually.
The sound of the friction of his jeans as he neared had me tense. “The same year you were in. I can do many things, but I did not time travel.”
Turning to face him, holding open the window so the light could shine true on him and his words, I watched as he approached with the grace and stealth of a panther. With curiosity, I asked, “What is it that you can do?” What else he could do besides teleport, change his solid form into one that can travel into other solid forms with the ease of a knife on butter and end demons.
His next words made me wonder how long he’d been lying in wait. “I could make you happy.”
I wasn’t expecting this. Although on some level, I knew that Sebastian was around me for some reason other than my protection, I had let it go. He’d flirted on occasion, but nothing like the forward advances of Paul and Flynn. “I love Luke,” I said on instinct. It was my go to motto with Flynn. My brain was on overload at the moment to come up with anything more clever.
“Of course you do, lass.” He stopped, leaving enough distance between us that I could breathe.
“Then why are you saying this?” I asked.
“Who has been the one to keep you safe all this time? It’s been me. Always me. And in the end, I may be the only one left standing between you and certain death.”
Stepping forward, he was oh so close, close enough that his scent surrounded me like a blanket. If I was honest, there was little doubt that I could always be safe with him. But was being safe my ultimate goal, or was happiness? “And what about Luke?” I asked, while looking into those sterile blue eyes void of any real emotion. I wondered if Luke was in danger from him.
His finger, which I’d never notice before wasn’t calloused, put gentle pressure on my lips. “No one matters but you and me. When will you realize that?”
I wanted to shout Never, but I held my tongue. I was at his mercy right now which was an odd thought, but true. I was in Scotland with no way home, no passport and little cash. I had to be smart. “I should go home.”
“At some point you will realize this. In the meantime, I will do my job and keep you safe.” He walked away and over to a chest black in color and gilded with gold leaf along the lines of it. Opening it, he pulled out a wrapped object thin and as long as my forearm. He walked over to me and held my attention. Holding it out to me, he said, “Take this.”
Reaching out, I took the object. It was wrapped in worn beige cloth. Once in my hand, I could feel what it was. “Open it,” he directed.
Unwrapping it slowly, I was astonished at the look of it once the cloth was undone. It looked nothing the way it felt. It was solid black, much like the chest it had come from. The handle of the dagger had a gold leaf design pattern that swirled around it. I lifted the tapestry so that I could view it in light. It wasn’t black as I thought. Rather it was black speckled with tiny red coloring like looked like drops of blood.
“It’s a bloodstone knife. It is one of the few things that can kill demons,” he said. My eyes widened in surprise. He’d given me something I could use against him. “Bloodstone is normally a dark green. That stone will have no effect on us. It is rare to find it black. It is only the black ‘bloodstone’ that will have any effect on demons.”
He met my eyes. “I have bargained, demanded and killed on your behalf. You should be safe from your enemies and mine.”
“Yours?” My voice cracked.
“Demons are always looking to usurp each other.” Waving a dismissive hand, he said, “Nevertheless, I may not always be able to get to you. This dagger could save your life if I cannot. I’m trusting you with this knowledge. It is something most are not aware of. Keep this secret even from Luke and I will keep them safe from harm.”
He stared into my eyes sending me the unspoken words. If I told, he could let Luke die at anytime. And he was working with Luke to help him find a cure. “Okay.”
He nodded and looked at me a beat longer before he said, “I have a few things to take care of before we go. You should get some rest.”
“What—” I began.
Again, he touched his finger to my forehead. “Sleep,” he said and I was shrouded in darkness.
Chapter Eighteen
When I awoke, I found myself sitting up in bed. I had to wait a beat for my eyes to click on the night vision. Unlike the goggles, I didn’t see everything in shades of green. I saw in muted colors and shades of gray. Once acclimated, it was easy enough to tell I was in my room at home. I found my backpack on the ground next to my bed. My cell phone and keys were neatly laid on my bedside table. And I still wore the clothes I had on earlier, thank goodness. And next to my keys was the cloth that held the dagger.
I took the thing and put it in my drawer. If it was supposed to be for my protection, I couldn’t very well hide it in my closet where it would be out of reach. I wasn’t going to carry it to school either. I wasn’t sure what to do or if I could kill anyway. Demons weren’t human, but if Sebastian had taught me anything, all demons weren’t bad. So it would stay in my drawer stay.
That done, part of me was disappointed. I’d been in Sebastian’s house. There might have been much to learn about him or maybe something about myself. Yet he’d dragged me up to a bedroom. Had that been his? If so, it was a little sparse. Then again, I didn’t see Sebastian as one who cared much about things.
I was also a little bummed that I’d been in Scotland and didn’t see a lick of it. Here too, I’d been to Egypt, London and Paris too for mere minutes.
My mind raced to Luke. I picked up the phone worrying my nails with one hand while swiping across the screen with the other. He’d called alright, several times along with Flynn and Maggie. Looking at the clock it was past one in the morning. I wasn’t sure if he would be awake. And actually, I stopped for a minute before deciding to go ahead and make that call.
“Mercy,” he breathed like I was air.
“Luke.” I was not sure where to begin. Should I apologize? I was culpable of many things. Culpable. It was going to take a while for my brain to debrief and not think in terms of SAT words.
Slowly and calmly, he asked, “Where have you been?” I opened my mouth to speak, but he did first. “No, don’t answer that yet. Can I come see you?”
“Right now?” I asked. It was in the middle of a school night.
“Yes,” he said a little desperately.
“Okay.” I wanted to see him too. We needed to have a conversation and I wanted to see his face. We could have skyped or facetimed, but in person would be better. When he hung up, I headed to my door, and peered out. All was quiet in the hall. I didn’t even hear a TV on. Did my mom already know I was home?
Moving to my window, I opened it and sat on the bench and waited. Luke wasn’t going to come in through the front door. The alarm would chime. My mom wasn’t the heaviest of sleepers. With no noise out in the halls, that chime would wake the dead.
I was stuck in an endless loop of what to say when Luke stepped in the window with the ease of walking in a room. He sat opposite me on the bench seat. The night was chilly but the air felt good. Making no move to touch me, I guessed a wall had already been built between us.
The divide grew with each passing second
we didn’t speak only staring at each other like we were a million miles away. Funny, but maybe not, we both decided to break the silence at the same time. With a half laugh, I said, “Go ahead.” It wasn’t like I didn’t have a lot to say, I just didn’t know how to begin. So I ceded him the floor.
“I’m sorry.” Starting off with that eased parts of my mind. Until I speculated exactly what he was sorry for, Blondie or me? “I shouldn’t have walked away. I was pissed that you acted like you didn’t want to touch me. And…”
And that evil side I brought out of you reared its ugly head. I didn’t speak it, but it was a neon sign in my mind, flashing incessantly. “And, I’m sorry for leaving with Sebastian,” I admitted.
His hands balled into fist and he seemed to visibly try and calm himself. “Where did he take you?”
Here was the sticky part. Honestly however was going to be my policy on this. “Scotland.” I watched his face shift. “His home,” I added figuring that was the next question.
Flashing like a lighthouse beacon, I waited for him to blow. That wasn’t his normal M.O. but I couldn’t be sure what he’d do these days. “And what did you do there?”
Anger was furthest from my mind. I didn’t take his question to mean that he didn’t trust me. I knew he was trying to make sure Sebastian hadn’t placed me in any danger. “Talked for a few minutes, then he put me to sleep.” And yeah, he gave me a dagger that could kill demons but I can’t tell you about it without putting you in danger. And I had no doubt, somehow he would know if I told. Just like he seemed to know whenever I was in trouble.
His facial expression dimmed. Some say words don’t hurt, but they are wrong. I realized my choice of them had pushed Luke almost over the edge. “He told me to sleep and touched my head. Then I woke up here. Fully dressed.” I added that last part to ease his mind.
“So, you don’t know when you got back?”
I shook my head and said, “No, I woke up and called you.”
Angel Of Mercy (Cambions #3) Page 9
