Chapter 2
I knew telling the coven about Davis was a mistake. We all sat around in a circle on the floor of the woods – our regular meeting place. They were talking about me like I wasn’t there.
“I’ve heard Aethiens can live up to a thousand years.”
“Why would an Aethien be here in the first place?”
“He was dating her, remember?”
“For two years!”
Yeah, the humiliation was a happening thing. After they got over the initial shock that I had been with an Aethien for two years, it was pretty much downhill from there.
“He must be using his powers to track her.”
“He has my class schedule,” I pointed out. We had been together for a long while, of course he knew my habits and where to find me. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure it out.
They continued as if I hadn’t said a thing.
“There’s no way to kill an Aethien. They’re part of the immortals.”
“There’s got to be a loophole, there usually is.”
“Aethiens can kill their own kind. I think I read that somewhere.”
“It’s not like we deal with them every day.”
Except me, anyway. I saw Davis every day, got as close to him as any girlfriend could. I let the witches discuss the scandal as I tuned out, remembering the day we’d met.
I was in the library, picking up a few books for school – and some for leisure. I was carrying so many that I couldn’t exactly see where I was going. I ran straight into Davis, books went everywhere. He made a joke about me needing to get out more and suggested he could shout me a coffee for messing up my neat pile.
The moment I really looked at Davis, I felt something. It was like an electrically charged spark that zapped through my body. I’d never felt so… awake. Alive. Invigorated. Of course, his chocolate brown hair and jet black eyes didn’t hurt the cause either. I’ve always been a sucker for gorgeous eyes.
I remember stammering out some kind of agreement and he helped me out with all the books. After that, we got a coffee and talked all afternoon. It felt like something big was starting that day, I just had no clue how big.
Everything suddenly went quiet around me, pulling me from my memories. One glance around the room and I realized they were all looking at me. Finally, they’d noticed my existence. “What?”
Mandy rolled her eyes as she answered. “Do you feel Davis when he is near? Or does the magical stalking link only go one way?”
“I… uh… can feel him sometimes,” I replied. Except, I didn’t know whether that was just a couple thing, or something mystical. Two years was a long time to be with someone, and he was my first love, I wasn’t sure what it was like to be with a regular human. Was I supposed to be able to sense him?
They went back to talking again, my part of the conversation done with. I sat there for another hour, eventually taking out my History homework and doing that.
As they were wrapping up the meeting, they moved topics to something I could actually be excited about – the upcoming comet celebrations.
Merrick’s Comet was a once in a lifetime event, we had been waiting for it for years. As our beliefs were all about nature and the beauty in the elements, the comet was particularly exciting for us. We were going to have a special ceremony when it arrived.
“Everyone will need to wear their ceremonial robes,” our leader, Heidi, started. “We’ll meet at nine o’clock in the circle and start the celebrations. Everyone knows what to bring?” She waited until everyone nodded. “Great. Until then, we need to protect Lacey and work out what we’re going to do about the Aethien.”
I made my way home, the thought of my mountain of homework and the situation with Davis weighing on me. At least I could do something about one of my problems.
I went straight up to my room and started with Math. At some stage, I must have fallen asleep. Perhaps it was the Biology homework that did it, or the late hour. Whatever it was, I didn’t get to sleep long.
The sound of laughter woke me up. My head snapped up in panic as I realized I was still seated at my desk. But that wasn’t the troubling part.
Davis was there.
Laughing at me.
Fear brought me to my feet. “What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to determine if I could get to the door before he did. But where would I go? It wasn’t like I could hide anywhere from him. I certainly couldn’t tell my parents Davis was a demon and wanted to kill me. They liked him.
“You always were so cute when you slept,” Davis replied. His chuckles started to subside as the darkness crept into his eyes. “You’ve been hiding from me.”
My heart pounded in my chest, the sound echoing in my head. My body froze up, the fear gripping me in its claws. It was all I could do just to talk in small sentences. “I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy for your boyfriend?”
“We broke up.”
Davis laughed again. “I certainly didn’t agree to that. Now, get dressed, we’re going out.”
“I can’t. It’s late.” I wished my mouth would connect to my brain a little better so I could actually say all the things I wanted to. Like ‘get out’, ‘I hate you’, and ‘I never want to see you again’.
He walked to my closet and thrust open the doors so hard they bounced back again. He went through my clothes, pulling out selections before replacing them again. He finally settled on a red dress and threw it at me.
I let it crumple to the floor. Not only because my arms weren’t working.
“Put it on or we’re going to be late. You know I don’t like being late,” he snarled.
“I can’t go anywhere. My parents-”
“You are making me angry, Lace. You don’t want me to be angry, do you?”
Davis angry meant things got broken. I didn’t want to be broken, it was bad enough my heart was shattered. But going with Davis meant I might not come back. I needed more information. “Where are we going?”
“Get dressed.”
To buy some time, I picked up the red dress and turned around to face the wall while I changed. Even without seeing him, I could feel Davis’s eyes on me the whole time. Once, he would have turned away and given me some privacy. That was before I majorly pissed him off and ended things.
I shimmied into the dress. Before I could do the zipper, he was there. His fingers caressed the bare skin of my back as he slowly run the zipper upwards. I wanted to cringe but I didn’t dare move. Once again, I was frozen.
“There, all done. Now, let’s go,” he said happily.
I turned around and repeated the question. “Where are we going?”
“To a party, of course.”
He grabbed my hand and concentrated for a moment. It only took that moment for us to transport. I closed my eyes, feeling the usual nausea rumble through me with the action. I hated it when he did that. Convenient, yes. Fun, no.
When I opened my eyes again, we were standing in front of an old building. There was nobody around, not even a streetlight to illuminate the darkness. The only light came from the bright full moon above.
I didn’t bother asking where we were, it was probably best I didn’t know. We could have been in any corner of the earth, there was no way to determine it without listening to some people speak. Even then, I might not be able to recognize their language.
Davis started walking toward a door, the only one with a small glow above it. I would have paid someone a million bucks to not have to walk through that door. Anything could be behind it and I couldn’t trust Davis with my life these days.
“Hurry up,” he commanded me. I pulled my dress hem down a little further and raced to catch up with him. A coat wouldn’t have gone astray.
He didn’t knock on the door, just opened it and went in. I had to lunge to grab a hold of it before it closed in my face. So much for chivalry, clearly those days were long gone.
The noise was instant. Heavy, throbbing music pulsed in the large open
space. The building must have been a warehouse at one stage and was now a nightclub. Strobing lights threw out rainbows across the crowd of people. It was standing room only.
“What are we doing here?” I shouted, still unsure if Davis could hear me over the music. I didn’t recognize the song, I wasn’t even sure if it was in English.
“I’ve got to see someone,” he replied, leaning in close to my ear so his breath skimmed my skin. Before I could stop him, his arm snaked around my waist, pulling me hard against his side. There was no way I was going to get away from him, not with his grip.
Davis pulled me through the crowd. It took a moment to realize these weren’t humans. Aethiens, werewolves, vampires, banshees, succubus, and demons appeared to be the only ones on the invite list. Yellow, red, and all-white eyes watched me as I passed. I probably looked more like food than a fellow partier.
I returned Davis’s grip, not wanting to be away from him now. Alone, I was completely vulnerable to the others. I wouldn’t last five minutes by myself in this place. At least with an Aethien they wouldn’t kill me instantly, mistaking me for the complimentary buffet.
Davis led me through to the bar, ordering himself a drink before turning to me. “Want something?” I shook my head. Davis had told me about clubs like this before. They didn’t drink alcohol, rather some kind of cocktail of paranatural drugs.
As soon as he got his order, we moved through the crowd again until Davis spotted someone he knew. He had to let go of me for a moment to shake hands with the man. “Rudy, it’s been too long.”
“Davis, good to see you, man. And you’ve brought someone special.” Rudy, a six foot tall man with white-blonde hair and equally pale skin, flashed me a smile. His fangs rested on his bottom lip, he was a vampire.
“This is my girlfriend Lacey,” Davis said, nodding my way but giving me no further acknowledgement or introduction. I gave Rudy a nervous wave, hoping he wasn’t already wondering what I tasted like.
“She’s hot. I didn’t know you were slumming it with humans now.”
“What can I say? I was bored.” They shared a laugh together, the noise grinding on my nerves. If it was so horrible to be dating a human, Davis sure as hell hadn’t mentioned it before. I wondered if anything we had shared had been real or just a mirage. I certainly didn’t know the Davis of late.
“I bet she’s delicious,” Rudy said, looking me up and down like I was wearing nothing. I guess I got an answer to my earlier question.
“Not worth the hassle, my friend,” Davis replied happily. “Not for the blood, anyway.”
They clinked their glasses together and had another laugh at my expense. I shuffled closer to Davis when a succubus brushed past me, a little too close for it to have been an accident. My heart was pounding so hard, I was certain everyone in the club could hear it over the music.
The conversation between the guys was too fast for me to keep up with. Between their hushed tones and the music, it took too much effort to really listen to them. Instead, I stood there mute and prayed for it to be all over soon. I yearned to be home in bed, away from all the creatures of nightmares.
When I heard the word ‘comet’ come from Rudy’s mouth, I tuned back in again. I knew why my coven was talking about the comet, but I didn’t think vampires would care so much about it.
“Yeah, man, we’re all getting ready for it,” Rudy said, his eyes shining bright with enthusiasm. “We’re calling it the ‘Night of the Mirror’, get it?”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s only a comet, it’ll come again soon enough,” Davis replied. His arm had found its way around my waist again, holding me tight in his suffocating grip. As much as I hated having him so near, it was better than the alternative in the club.
“Not for a hundred years. I might not make it that far.” Rudy’s eyes travelled to me, remembering I was still there with my beating heart. “You must be pretty excited, huh? A real comet, and the most powerful one at that. Earth can only handle that kind of power every century. It’s a once in a lifetime thing for a human, right?”
I mustered the best smile I could. “I’m looking forward to seeing it. What kind of party are you having for it?”
“Not so much of a party as catching up with old friends.” For some reason, Rudy thought his words were hilarious and burst into fits of laughter. I waited for him to finish.
“You’re seeing old friends?” I prompted, desperate to know what he was talking about.
“You don’t know much about the comet, do you, Human?” He waited for me to shake my head before continuing. “All comets have special powers. This one dissolves the barriers between our dimension and other worlds. It will only last a few minutes, but for those few minutes, it will be amazing.”
“Other dimensions?”
“Worlds that exist parallel to ours. There’s thousands of them, man.”
Davis suddenly squeezed my side. “We need to go. It was nice talking to you, Rudy. I’ll see you around.”
He waved us off while Davis pushed me through the crowd. I was going to have a bruise on my waist, there was no doubt about it. While people greeted Davis, he didn’t stop to talk to anyone else. Whatever good mood he had before was now completely gone.
We reached a door and he pushed me through it. We were standing in an office, nothing but a few broken seats and a desk strewn around.
“Wait here,” Davis said, leaving no room for questions. He stormed through another door and slammed it behind him.
There was nothing to do except stand there, praying Davis wouldn’t be long. I was completely vulnerable without him. It really was a case of better the devil you know here.
I would have loved to use the opportunity of being alone to make a run for it. But with no windows, that meant I would have to find my way through the crowd outside back to the door. That was never going to happen. If I didn’t end up on the menu, I would attract the kind of attention that would follow me out into the darkness.
And then I would be eaten.
So staying and waiting for Davis was really my only option. I yawned, wishing he had picked on someone else to be his arm candy for the night. There was no point in me being there except for Davis to show off how he had a human under his control.
Being human sucked sometimes.
The door suddenly opened and Davis hurried out. He didn’t say a word, just grabbed my wrist and pulled me away. We didn’t stop in the main room, he continued his relentless pace and I was powerless to do anything else except try to keep up.
Outside, the cool night air rushed at me like a tidal wave. My skin prickled with goosebumps. Or fear. It could have been fear. “Davis, what was all that about?”
“None of your business,” he growled back.
“Then why’d you bring me?”
“Because you’re my girlfriend. It’s what you’re supposed to do. Remember?”
“I’m not your girlfriend anymore. We’ve spoken about this.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
He stopped abruptly, squeezing my wrist so hard I thought the bone was going to snap. I couldn’t stop the whimper coming out, but I didn’t scream. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
“Nobody breaks up with me,” he sneered. “If you say that again, I am going to kill you.”
I didn’t doubt his threat.
Celestial Page 34
