The Kiss of Death

by Auryn Hadley

  "No problem." With a smile, she turned the opposite direction from the way I needed to go.

  Well, there went that human shield. Hugging my backpack to my side, I trotted down the stairs, keeping my eyes peeled for metallic looking psychopaths. I didn't see any, so I followed the flow of bodies outside and toward the Edison building for my next class. It didn't take long before Luke reappeared at my side.

  "Good work with the student," he said softly.

  "Thanks. Does this mean I get an escort to Calculus?"

  His smile was perfectly devious. "Don't take it personally. I just like my feathers."

  "Gotcha."

  But he did walk me all the way to the door of my class. Waiting inside, however, was the one man I really wanted to see. Nick was bent over something on his desk, his face shielded by his long, dark hair as he scribbled intently. While I made my way over, I hoped he wouldn't be upset that I actually wanted to sit beside him. The last thing we'd talked about was me taking a little time to get used to the weirdness.

  "This seat taken?" I asked.

  He looked up and a smile immediately took over his face. "Saved it for you, dove." Lifting his bag out of it, he shifted to face me and offered a piece of paper. "Finished your homework. Hopefully, this means you still want to talk to me?"

  "Uh, yeah."

  "Good." He almost purred the word. I loved how it sounded. "Luke still being a dick?"

  "We're working it out." I dropped my bag between my feet and pulled out my notebook. "Hey, am I grounded all weekend?"

  "Sia..."

  "I'm honestly asking, Nick. I mean, I work tonight and have a lunch shift tomorrow, but I'm just not sure about this." I waved a finger between us. "Last week, you were taking me out for lunch. This week, you're telling me I need to stop and think, so I'm kinda hoping it's not the most epic brushoff ever."

  "It's not a brushoff," he assured me, but his eyes flicked around the room. When he'd seen whatever he needed to, he leaned a little closer. "I have some things I need to do this weekend. They have nothing to do with you, and yet everything. Think of it more like bad timing."

  "But Nick, I'm on board with this."

  He lifted a brow. "Are you? Or are you just happy to figure out your little mystery? What if the man you've been obsessing over is nothing like the obsession? I've seen your paintings, Sia. I rescued you. Neither of those things has anything at all to do with the complications that come with hanging out with me, yet I'm sure it all seems pretty romantic on the surface."

  He had a point. I hated to admit it, but it was a pretty good one. Unfortunately for him, I had a few, too. "And you think I'm just going to forget all of this? Maybe I should forgive the people who got one of my few friends in the world shot. Did you forget that I don't really like them? Even before I knew why, I didn't."

  "I know." He reached over and clasped my wrist. "I do know, dove. I also know that your life speeds by so fast, and you all tend to make hasty decisions because of it. The problem is that this is something you can't take back."

  "But I couldn't even if I didn't choose. Luke said I'm a beacon." I snapped my mouth shut.

  Nick's eyes narrowed. "I see. So he's been telling stories, huh?"

  "More like answering questions, and not very well. Look, my point is I currently feel like a fat rabbit in the middle of a pack of lions. Doesn't really matter if I like lions or not, they still want to eat me, right?"

  His thumb made a circle against my skin. "I can always figure out something to help with that."

  "You can?" Why hadn't he mentioned this before?

  Nick sighed and pulled his arm back. "There've been Muses who were stripped of their talents. I don't want to because it's a one-way street, and I'm not completely sure it will work with someone of your strength."

  "Oh." Well, there went that idea. "So I just stay the center of the Secret Service's protection until I graduate?"

  "If you have to."

  From the tone, I knew he was leaving something out. I also had a funny feeling he wouldn't make it easy to figure out what. That didn't mean I'd give up. Nope, as the teacher walked in and started writing on the whiteboard, I decided I just had to make sure I asked the right questions. Something in Nick's story wasn't adding up, which meant it was probably something I didn't really want to hear.

  But I had a whole weekend to think about it.

  When we finally got out of class, I wasn't surprised at all that Nick wanted to walk me home. What I didn't expect was for him to twine his fingers with mine. For some reason, I'd assumed that time to think about it meant time acting like Nick and I hadn't already made out a few times. Clearly, that was not the case.

  When he dropped me off at my door, he didn't even try to come in. I got another of those tantalizing kisses, but that was it. He just told me to pretend like nothing at all had changed, promising he'd take care of the rest. All I needed to do was think about everything and give it time to sink in while he got his side of things organized.

  He kept saying that. I just wished I knew what it would take to convince this demon that I'd already thought it all through. I'd made my decision. There wasn't a damned thing he – or anyone else – could do to scare me off. I'd already picked my side. I was totally Team Demon all the way.

  Chapter 16

  My shift at Mac's on Friday night wasn't too bad. I blamed Sam for that. He showed up only minutes after I clocked in and tipped well the whole night. He also hung all over some busty blonde, but with the way she was groping him, I couldn't really blame him. Clearly, he had a way with women. Granted, I may have used his little public display as an excuse to check him out a little.

  Sam was a demon with a body designed to be beautiful – and it was. Where Nick was tall, muscular, and chiseled, Sam was a different type of gorgeous, and it was growing on me. He was lean and lithe, with the body of an athlete. Under his tight black shirt, I could see the ripcords of muscles across his abs, and his arms were scrumptious. Not just his biceps, either. His forearms were also amazing. The whole neon hair and piercing thing he was rocking just gave him a dangerous air, and it worked for him.

  Unfortunately, his show wasn't enough to distract me from another group on the opposite side. Five guys sat quietly at a table, all nursing their beers. That wasn't weird. That they all looked a little faded was what bothered me. Faded probably wasn't the right word, because they weren't all white guys with blonde hair or anything. Still, even the Hispanic-looking dude had this sun-bleached thing about him. It was like his hair perfectly matched his skin, as if the contrast had been turned down a little too much. I wasn't close enough to see their eyes, but I had this sinking suspicion that every last one of them would be green.

  Then there was Aaron. That ex-boyfriend of mine who'd shoved me in the parking lot? Yeah, guess who he was friends with? The faded boys. He didn't sit with them, but he alternated between their table and another. The entire group all wore variations of the same fraternity shirt. The letters were Delta Phi. The same one Nick had asked about that first day.

  They never once looked at me, though. Even when they got another drink, every last one of them went to the bartender working the other end of the counter. I honestly didn't mind. Sam, however, kept glancing at them. If anything was a tip-off, that was it. Even when his little blonde vampire was trying her best to suck on his neck, Sam's eyes couldn't stay away from the pack of weirdos.

  That's why I asked Cody, one of the cooks, to give me a lift home. I told him I'd worn a blister on my heel. I hadn't, but since he was headed right past my place, he didn't care. I figured it just reduced the likelihood of giving some angels the chance to talk to me without revealing my bodyguards. From the way Luke had acted that morning, I was pretty sure they wouldn't do anything with normal humans around, so I was going to use it as much as I could.

  The lunch shift on Saturday was more of the same, but instead of Sam seducing some college girl by the pool tables, it was Luke studying in a corner. He had his lap
top and notes spread before him, and his fingers were typing furiously. When he came to the bar for a refill, I asked if that was his Creative Writing project. He wouldn't answer until I threatened to withhold his beer. Only then would he admit that he was working on a short story about a dragon hunter. Seeing the Devil blush completely made my day.

  Well, most of it. I was home before the sun had even set and had nothing else to do until I headed back to class on Monday. All of my homework was done except Calculus. I didn't count that because I didn't understand it enough to finish on my own. The only thing I really had to do was make up that drawing I'd missed when I was in the hospital, but perspective work was easy. Typically, it was just a long hall with doors or windows to prove the artist could imitate distance.

  Lucky for me, I had a hall in my little house. It wasn't a long one, but with the kitchen at the other end, it would do. Pulling out my sketchbook, I plopped down in the middle of the floor and got to work. When I started adding the details, my mind began to wander. One of the pictures in my hall was of Death. He was wearing the hood I'd first seen him in. As I replicated it on my project, I realized that I finally had an idea of what he looked like. It might be wrong, but it was better than always making him faceless.

  That was how I ended up on a fresh page in my smaller sketchpad, doing my best to mix Nick and Death together. I'd never seen what was hiding under that hood, but I loved the idea of a challenge. I used Nick's face since they had the same lips, put the blackness of space in his eyes, lit only with a few stars, then started adding in the horns. I'd felt them, so I could make a pretty good guess what they looked like. Two large arcs, both curling against the side of his head like a ram's, they'd been thick and ridged, ending in a sharp point. I knew I had the mouth right, and the jaw, but everything else was just a guess.

  The problem was I didn't need to focus on what I was doing. That let the questions start seeping in. Why did Death have the universe in his eyes but Nick didn't? Was that connected to their magic? Every angel I'd met had those freakish green eyes, but the demons were in varying shades of brown. Did that mean something? And if angels could only "mind-fuck" a person, then how could they craft weapons? How had they made skins? Those things sounded like they needed external aether to me.

  As Death's face began to appear under my pencil, I finally did exactly what Nick wanted. I thought about it. About everything. This insanity was really happening, and I'd gotten caught in the middle. Would my life ever be the same? Did I want it to? What would I lose if anyone found out I actually believed in this? And the angels? I was getting the strong impression that unless I had my powers stripped, they'd never leave me alone.

  But what did that even mean, stripping my powers? My art turned real. Sam had seen it happen and Nick had put the pencil back on the page. That made me think they could do something similar. If I gave up this special Muse thing they kept going on about, would I still be able to draw? I honestly couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life working in an office like a normal person. Something about the idea didn't sit right with me.

  And if I didn't give up my powers? Would Nick, Sam, and Luke follow me around for the rest of my life? Sure, that was tempting, but how long would it take before they came to resent babysitting the human? I couldn't forget how easily Luke had crushed his coffee cup. He hadn't even tried! If they could do that, then how annoying was it to play human all day long just to keep me from going insane?

  Yeah, I was getting nowhere. Now that I'd started thinking, each question just made two more. The only way to make this stop was to finally get some answers. I couldn't do that here. They were all kept locked inside a pretty little green Victorian mansion just two blocks away. And even if Nick wouldn't tell me anything, I knew Sam or Luke would. They might not tell me enough, but at least it would be progress.

  Throwing my sketchpad into my backpack, I found a pair of shoes and my keys. If drawing was what made me finally think of the questions I needed to ask, then I'd draw at their place – whether they liked it or not. Besides, it wasn't like I really had anything else to do. For most of my life, I'd been perfectly happy keeping to myself, but not now. All those hours had been spent with Death's memory, trying to recall some little detail that would help me find him. Now, I knew exactly where he was, so it was time to do something about it.

  Before I could convince myself this was a bad idea – and it really was – I marched out of the house, pausing only long enough to lock it behind me. I had enough time to make it to the sidewalk before a sudden breeze made me glance back. Sam was mid-step and still pulling on his shirt. I caught a flash of some delicious abdominal muscles and jerked my eyes up. I was pretty sure he noticed, but the smile on his face convinced me he didn't mind.

  "Where ya going?" he asked as he adjusted the hem over his waist.

  "Uh..." I couldn't help myself. I had to check to make sure no one was around to see him step out of nothing. "Your place."

  "Cool." Without asking, he reached out and snagged my backpack from my shoulder, shifting it to his. "Is this a walk it out thing, or a get there quick thing?"

  "Walk it out, I think." So I had time to stop thinking about his abs.

  He just nodded and gestured for me to lead on. "Nick probably felt the wards go off, too, so –"

  "What?"

  He paused, then gave me an impish smile. "You know how some stores have that little bell on the door so you can't miss when it opens? Same idea. If you pass through the wards, we get a little alert."

  I stopped and turned to face him. "You know that's not cool, right?"

  He just grabbed my shoulders and pointed me onward. "That's a conversation for inside."

  "No, it's not. Luke already told me that's just to keep me from yelling at y'all, but you can't just invade my privacy like that, Sam! Regardless of why."

  "Let's debate that inside."

  "Fine!"

  I trudged on a little faster, but the damned demon didn't seem phased at all. He even whistled like we were out for some evening stroll. It wasn't until I'd marched past the first block that reality began to sink in again. That, and I had to slow down because I was panting. The truth was Sam could've just followed me in the corridor. He could've hidden from me, still keeping an eye on me. He hadn't. He'd stepped out immediately, letting me know he was there.

  He'd also clearly been in the middle of something else. He wasn't stalking me; he was trying to keep me safe. My real problem was that it was him and not Nick. For the last two days, Nick had put his roommates on my security team and fucked right the hell off. He said it was bad timing, but I was a little worried. I'd spent so long trying to find him, and now that I had, he was intentionally putting distance between us. I hated to admit it, but I was lashing out at Sam because I was afraid that this thing with Nick was nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

  "I'm sorry," I mumbled just as he reached out for the little gate in front of their house. "I hope you weren't in the middle of something important when I decided to take a walk."

  "I wasn't," he promised. "Just playing a little Battlefield. Wanna come in? Nick should be back shortly."

  "He's gone?"

  Sam pressed a hand to the middle of my back and guided me up the stairs to the porch. "In and out for most of the weekend." He opened the door and gestured for me to go first. "That's why Luke and I have been trading Muse duty." As soon as we were both in, he not only closed the door but also locked it.

  "I, uh, had some questions."

  He pointed toward the room they'd set me in the other day. "Make yourself comfortable. Coffee? Beer?"

  "Coffee, please."

  With a nod, he headed toward the kitchen. I did as I was told and made my way into what they called the living room. I was pretty sure it used to have some other name, but it didn't matter now. What did was the golden Adonis sprawled out on the couch in a pair of sweats and a baggy t-shirt. Luke looked exactly like every other guy I'd ever known in my life, if a bit more perf
ect. Not at all what I expected from the Devil.

  "Your timing couldn't be better," he teased, refusing to glance away from the game on the screen. "Sam was kicking my ass."

  Yeah, I wasn't going to let him distract me this time. "Where's Nick?"

  "Out."

  I groaned. "Where's out?"

  His thumbs were tapping furiously. "Dunno. Could be Tyrnigg, could be Vesdar, could be India. He's somewhere in the five realms that does not include this house."

  Not what I wanted to hear. "Ok, fine. Will you answer my questions then?"

  "Sure." His lips flashed a smile, but it was directed to the screen.

  "Why don't demons have green eyes?"

  "Because it would be a waste of energy to change something that much. Demons tend to have dark eyes, so they go with brown shades. Angels have the fire of life in ours, so we chose the color that is closest on this world. Green, often with yellows or golds."

  "But why?" I insisted. "Why does Death have the universe and you have, what, fire?"

  "Dunno. Why do you have blue rings? We didn't really get to choose. I think it has something to do with our grasp of aether, but it's not something anyone's really studied. We've been too busy trying to kill each other for the last few billion years."

  "Wait." He'd touched on my next question. "On your grasp of aether?"

  "Yep." Luke was still focused on the game as if my questions weren't hard at all. "Simple explanation is that angels have control over what's inside while demons take over when it's outside."

  "So you can't do anything with the free roaming stuff?" I asked, just as the front door opened.

  "Not exactly," Luke said, but he didn't get the chance to finish.

  Nick's voice cut him off. "What the fuck are you doing here? I thought I made it clear. If she leaves her house, you're to keep an eye on her. Do you have any idea what Michael will do to her if he's given half a chance?"

  "Dude," Sam hissed, proving he was in the hall just outside.