by S. J. West
You’re hiding. What are you afraid of?
“I’m not hiding,” I say as I notice Lora exit the chapel with Silas by her side. They’re holding hands and laughing about something. “I’m observing human behavior. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing? Judging them?”
How do you make the word judging sound so dirty?
“I’ll admit, it’s a gift.”
Caleb keeps yammering on about something, but my attention is captivated by the way Lora seems so at ease with her soulmate. The concept of soulmates is a new one to me. I had no idea they even existed until I merged with Caleb. Now, it makes me wonder if people paired in such a way can ever be torn apart.
Hey!
“What?” I ask, aggravated at having my thoughts interrupted so rudely. “What is it that you want now you irritating idiot of a boy?”
You call me an idiot, but it’s you who keeps forgetting that I know everything you think. Leave Lora and Silas alone. They’ve both been through enough. Let them enjoy their happiness while they can. If you don’t help us with Levi, these next few days may be all they ever get.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s what I should do. I think I want to test just how strong their bond is to one another. Can’t true love conquer all? Isn’t that what all the sappy little humans believe?”
If you tear them apart, I’ll tear you apart from the inside out!
“You can’t honestly tell me that you’re not in the least bit curious about their relationship. As you just said, you can read my thoughts. Well, that goes both ways, boy. I know you’re dying to find out if Lora truly does care about Silas more than she did you. Let me discover the truth for you.”
Caleb remains silent as he weighs the pros and cons of my suggestion. Finally, he makes a decision.
Just . . . don’t hurt her. Okay?
“Me?” I truly feel offended. “I have no intentions of causing her harm. In fact, all I want to do is ease your mind over what could have been.”
That’s a crock of shit and you know it. You just want to cause trouble. You don’t care about me or my feelings.
“Such language, Caleb, really. I thought Abaddon would have raised you better than that. I have to say it’s rather vulgar for a half-angel such as yourself.”
Whatever, he says dismissing my rebuke, just watch yourself because I’ll certainly be watching how you treat her.
“Never fear. I shall act the perfect gentleman.” I promise as I tug on the bottom of my jacket and straighten my shoulders before combing my fingers through my newly acquired luscious locks. “Just watch me.”
Oh, don’t worry. I will be.
I start to walk across the rather large expanse between my tree and Lora when I notice a couple of girls sitting at one of the tables snicker at me.
“I wonder what their problem is,” I grumble quietly.
It’s the way you’re walking.
I’m not sure why Caleb sounds so exasperated, but he’s also not making any sense.
“What’s wrong with the way I walk?” Surely the boy is mistaken. I have excellent posture.
You’re walking like you have a stick up your ass, dude. Loosen up a little or you’re going to make the other angels here suspicious. Swing your arms, bend your knees. Walk like you’re a young man in his prime, not literally death walking.
I see nothing wrong with the way I’m presenting myself, but when I pass another table, I notice the students there cast a dubious glance my way. To ensure I don’t raise any more doubts in peoples’ minds, I take my inner voices advice and begin to swing my arms and bend my knees as I walk. For whatever reason, this seems to draw the lovely Lora’s attention in my direction. I watch as she says something to Silas before making her way to me. I no doubt caught her eye with my sexy sauntering.
Lora practically runs to me. My seduction plan is working.
Seduction plan? What seduction plan? You didn’t say anything about seducing her!
I don’t have time to respond to Caleb. Lora pounces on me like the cute little kitten she is . . . but with her claws out. She grabs me by the upper arms and looks deeply into my eyes. Oh my, she looks so fired up. I wonder what she will do next. Hug me? Kiss me? Ravish me right here for all to see?
“What are you doing?” she whispers harshly. “Are you trying to draw attention to yourself?”
She’s smiling as she asks these questions, but she definitely doesn’t sound happy. In fact, she sounds rather annoyed with me. If I didn’t know any better, I would think she’s upset about something, but what?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Following her lead, I put on a fake smile to talk through too.
“At first you started walking as stiff as a board, and then you started walking like you’re an orangutang. Just walk normally! It’s not that hard.”
I feel offended by her rebuke. Saying that I walk like a primitive primate is just insulting.
Lora drops her hands from my arms and for some strange reason, I miss the warmth her touch brought me, but . . . are those my feelings or Caleb’s? The line between us is becoming blurred with every passing second. I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.
I can’t say I’m too happy about it either.
“Oh, shut up,” I grumble.
“Excuse me?” Lora’s body stiffens. Her eyes look as sharp as needles piercing my soul.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I assure her. I tap the side of my head with an index finger. “It’s him. He is far too opinionated and vocal about things.”
Lora’s eyes mist over, and I realize bringing up Caleb’s situation has made her sad. It was the last thing I wanted to do.
“He’s perfectly fine,” I say. “In fact, I think he’s having fun torturing me with his thoughts.”
Lora grins like she knows exactly what I mean.
“I can imagine he has quite a few thoughts about this situation. Will you ever let me speak with him?”
Her question brings me up short. On the one hand, I might earn some points in my favor if I let her talk to the boy. On the other hand, using the possibility of talking directly with him might help me tease her along and provide interesting opportunities.
“Maybe,” I say, letting the word hang in the air as an obvious bargaining chip between us. “But not tonight. He was rather vocal while I was speaking to my Father earlier, and I didn’t appreciate his input one bit.”
“God talked to you? He knows who you are?”
She looks surprised, which in turn surprises me.
“Of course, He recognized me. Why wouldn’t He? He is omnipotent after all or did you conveniently forget that fact?”
“I don’t understand,” she says, looking as confused as her words indicate. “If He knows who you are, why didn’t He tell the other angels here? Why didn’t He warn them?”
“Well now, that’s the question of the millennia, isn’t it? Why oh why didn’t He reveal my true identity? You’ll have to ask Him about that yourself because I honestly don’t know what He’s playing at.”
“This isn’t a game,” she says testily. “Real lives are at stake. How can you take this so lightly? Don’t you have any sort of conscience at all? What kind of angel are you anyway?”
With each question, her voice got higher and higher. If I were to guess, I would say she’s highly agitated with me when I’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve such atrocious behavior from her.
“I don’t think you want to know what kind of angel I am, little girl.” I didn’t intend to sound so threatening, but she’s pushing me and I don’t like it. “Don’t test my patience or you’ll find out. I assure you the experience would not be a pleasant one.”
Surprisingly, she doesn’t look scared. In fact, she looks like she’s about to hit me. Her reaction makes me smile with delight. I knew I liked her for a reason. She has spunk, and she doesn’t back down from a fight. Of course, all those years she spent in Hell probably toughened her up quite a bit.
“Oh?” I take a step closer to her so our faces are only inches apart. “Are you suggesting you would have me in a very compromising horizontal position? I can only imagine that experience would be worth dying a thousand times by your hands.”
Lora swallows hard and looks startled. “Did I just turn you on by saying I wanted to kill you?”
I grin. “What else would you expect from the angel of death? I must say, the idea of me dying is intriguing. I’m not even sure someone like you could pull off such a fete, but I would certainly be up for an experiment if you are. Who knows? Maybe the experience would be pleasurable for the both of us. You could finally put all those lovely skills Hell gave you to the test.” I take a step back. “Let me know if you’re interested. I’m only a phase away.”
I turn my back to her and saunter over to my tree. When I turn around, Lora is still standing in the spot where I left her, looking dumbfounded by my suggestion.
Good. I’ve left a lasting impression on her that won’t soon be forgotten.
When Lora finally does turn to walk back to her friends, I see Silas lower his head next to hers and say something. He looks worried about her conversation with me. He probably asked some mindless question like “are you all right?” Humans. They have zero imagination sometimes. When he glances in my direction, all I can do is smile. Have I caused a small seed of doubt to form in his mind? Is he second-guessing his soulmate’s feelings for me? Wonderful. I suddenly feel all giddy inside.
You’re a real bastard, you know that?
“Pot calling the kettle black, Caleb?” I can’t help but snicker. “I seem to remember you stringing poor Lora along and then attempting to crush her spirit at a certain dance. Was that just in your imagination or was it a real memory?”
I can practically feel Caleb squirming with shame inside me.
It was real. I did do that, but not because I wanted to.
“Then I don’t think you have any right to chastise me for my behavior, boy.”
I continue to watch Lora from afar during the party. A few of the female cadets approach me and ask me to dance, but I quickly dash their burgeoning hopes of capturing the interest of the most handsome man at the party. I’m only interested in one girl here, and I’m waiting for my moment to make my move again.
When Silas asks Lora to dance, I watch them intently. Body language between two people can sometimes tell you more than mere words, and their body language is telling me that they’re sexually aroused by one another.
Good grief. Did you have to use the word aroused? I feel like I want to throw up.
“Well, look at them,” I say. “Isn’t it obvious by the way their hips are accidentally bumping into one another? Seriously, you don’t do that with just anyone. There is serious arousal going on there.”
Stop it!
I can physically feel Caleb cringing on the inside.
“Oh please, don’t tell me she didn’t arouse you when you were still in control of this body. I seem to recall a few nights you spent in your bed thinking about her and—”
STOP! Just STOP! I swear to God if you take that sentence any further, you’re going to feel a pain like no other.
“What’s wrong with a little self-pleasure? It’s perfectly natural for a young man in his prime to fantasize about someone of the fairer sex while—”
Please. I’m begging you. Move on to something else. I can’t take this torture any longer.
“Very well.” I shrug not understanding why the boy was becoming so embarrassed. In fact, I plan to pleasure myself later just to see if the experience is as wonderful as his memories seem to indicate.
I didn’t need to know that.
“I thought that at least would make you happy,” I say. “You seemed to enjoy doing it quite a bit.”
Caleb remains silent. I gather he thinks dropping the subject on his side will in turn force me to drop the subject entirely. Oh contraire. I still plan to do what I said, even if he finds the idea repulsive. However, I feel as though I need to experience more of life before that moment happens, and I know exactly what might help.
She’s going to knock you out. Just warning you.
“Always the pessimist, Caleb. You don’t know that for sure.”
Yeah. I kind of do, actually. But by all means, follow through with your plan. I can’t wait to see what happens.
“Such little faith in me. I feel offended.”
Oh, you’re going to feel something all right: her fist. But you deserve it. You know you do.
“I know no such thing, boy. Sit back and watch a master manipulator work his magic.”
While Lora and Silas are still dancing, I approach them and tap Silas on the shoulder while clearing my throat to further gain the couple’s attention. They both stop dancing to look at me. Lora looks mortified and Silas looks annoyed.
“May I cut in?” I ask. “I was just about to leave and realized I haven’t danced with Lora this evening. Do you mind?”
“Uh,” Silas looks unsure. His gaze travels back to Lora and he raises his eyebrows in a silent question to her.
“It’s all right,” she reassures him. “This song is almost over. You and I can dance to the next one.”
Silas leans over and kisses Lora on the cheek as if his lips are leaving his brand on her. “I won’t be far away.”
She nods in response and watches him walk over to the buffet table to speak with Cal and coo over the baby he’s holding. I feel Caleb yearn to see his sister’s son again, but I have other plans for us. I quickly bring Lora into my arms, catching her off guard. Her surprise is amusing and quite cute.
“I get the feeling this dance is an excuse for something else,” she says to me as I pull her so close our chests are pressed together. When she pulls back to put more space between us, I don’t fight her. If I did, she would walk away from me and my plan would be put to an end before I’ve even had a chance to see it begin.
“You’re very intuitive,” I say, twirling her effortless around the other dancers, and doing my best to position us closer to the back so we’re obscured from view. “I do want something and you’re the only one who can give it to me.”
“What in the world could I give you?” Her confusion is adorable, and I immediately take advantage of it.
Before she can react and out of sight of her friends, I dip my head and press my lips to hers while simultaneously phasing us to a quiet spot on a distant world I remember from my past. When we reach our black sandy beach destination, Lora immediately pushes me away.
“Have you lost your mind?” She wipes the back of her hands against her lips in disgust as if she just kissed a toad.
“You didn’t enjoy it?” That seems odd to me. “You seemed to enjoy kissing Caleb’s lips quite a bit when the two of you were alone together. What’s the difference?”
“The difference is that you’re not Caleb,” she says, stomping up to me, rearing back her arm and socking me right across the chin with her fist.
Told ya. Warned ya. Called it. Caleb gloats. You’re screwed now. She’s never going to trust you after this.
“We’ll see about that,” I whisper to my annoying companion. I turn to Lora with a hurt expression. “I’m sorry. I thought it might help you remember that Caleb isn’t exactly gone. He’s still here inside me, and he longs for us to become friends so he can keep you in his life.”
Lora’s anger visibly dissipates. She doesn’t look sorry for striking me across the face, but I do detect a light of understanding within her brilliant blue eyes.
You’re despicable. I want you to know that.
“I truly apologize.” For added effect, I place my hands over my heart. “I thought I was doing something that would help you, not cause you this much distress. I promise
I will never try something like that again.”
“You better not.” She points a stern finger of warning at me, and I wear the mask of a man who has seen the error of his ways.
Jered phases in with a distraught looking Silas by his side.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Silas screams, striding up to me and placing his angry face disturbingly close to mine. “Why did you phase Lora here? What did you do to her?”
“I kissed her,” I admit. I feel sure Lora will tell him the truth so I might as well beat her to the punch and own up to my misdeed. “And I got a fist across the jaw for my efforts. As you can see, she is perfectly safe and unscathed. I, on the other hand,” I gently rub my sore jaw, “may need some ice to help take down the swelling.”
“How about I just hit you again and knock you completely out so you don’t have to suffer?” Silas rears back his arm, forms his hand into a fist, but never gets the chance to make contact with my beautiful new face.
“Don’t, Silas,” Lora says, quickly taking hold of his arm to stop him. “Let’s just go home. I’m tired. It’s been a long day.”
Silas stares at me, and if looks could kill, I would be dead where I stand. Reluctantly, he turns away from me and faces Lora.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asks, using the same hand that was just a fist and lovingly running its fingers down the side of her face.
“I just want to go home.” Lora takes hold of Silas’s hand and turns to Jered. “Can you take us home, please?”
Jered nods, casting a withering glance my way but also one that seems a bit confused by my actions.
After they phase, I reach up and touch my lips. Lora’s mouth was soft and supple against mine. She smelled of chocolate, presumably from the wedding cake, and the sensation of her skin against my own is one I won’t soon forget. In fact, all I can think about is finding a way to kiss her again, but next time I want her to enjoy it. I want her to want me too.
6
(Jered’s Point of View)
