A Demon Made Me Do It (29 page)

“
I’m good. I would’ve
called, but I don’t have your cell number. And your home phone
isn’t listed anywhere.”

He checked?
“Um, yeah, we don’t have one.”

He tilts his face to the sky. His skin
looks so smooth it’s like one of those air-brushed models in a
magazine. “I was wondering what you were doing today…if you had any
plans.”

I shake my head. “No, nothing special
planned. Just gonna hang out, maybe do some homework
later…”

“
Wanna go fishing again?”
His eyes light up. “You don’t have to actually fish if you don’t
want…just keep me company. This time I promise there’s plenty of
gas in the tank, and we’ll leave way before dark.”

I scrunch my nose, remembering. “Sure.
Sounds great…let me just go tell Tatiana…”

Just over an hour later, we unload the
gear from Kieron’s truck and head toward the river. Birds are out
in full force, singing and enjoying the sunny day. The grass
sparkles with dew, looking like a blanket of crushed emeralds. We
set up camp by the water, just like last time.

Nearby are wide stretches of velvety
moss, and as Kieron baits his line, I give into temptation and take
off my boots. The soft coolness beneath my feet brings back a
memory—one of me as a child, playing outside on a warm summer’s day
with Kayla and Michael. The thought of them brings a small smile to
my face. As I wander closer to the cliff’s peak, I glance over my
shoulder to see Kieron watching me. He also has a smile of
contentment on his face.

I inhale deeply and let the
fresh mountain air flow through me.
In
with the good, out with the bad…
I tell
myself silently as I take several, long deep breaths. For several
minutes I stare out over the valley, at peace with myself and the
world below. Funny how being up here makes all my problems seem so
small and far away.

I turn and see Kieron still
watching me. He has his pole in one hand, but his focus is squarely
on me. He’s not smiling now; he’s just looking. The several yards
between us could have been mere inches. I see strength in his
eyes…and safety. Like I belong there.
Slowly, his soft mouth curves into a half-smile. He reaches
out his hand and beckons me to him.

There is nothing holding me back.
Nothing is telling me to stop. Every fiber of my being, every ounce
of my soul, is telling me to go to him.

As I sit down, he shifts over slightly
so that our bodies touch. My heart is racing, yet I’m strangely
calm. With the tips of his fingers he gently guides my chin toward
his as he slowly brings his face down, closer. His eyelashes tickle
my cheek as he presses his soft lips against mine.

A few minutes later, we
both reluctantly sit back. He smiles, and chuckles to himself.
Dizzy with happiness, I stand up on wobbly legs and take a few
steps down to the water’s edge. I need a moment to process this new
version of myself.
I’m
the girl who’s just been kissed and held by the most amazingly
sexy, beautiful, and caring man on the face of the earth.
I’m
that
girl.
That just happened to
me
, Liora Greyson.

I meet Kieron’s gaze, and in that
split second, our connection is sealed. Everything is changed.
We’re no longer the same two people who sat side by side in the
truck driving up here. Now we’re something else entirely… something
new, beautiful, and miraculous.

He lounges back on the blanket and
fiddles with his pole before casting his line into the water. “How
are you feeling?” he asks. I love the way his mouth moves when he
talks…the way his lips form their shape around the different words.
And especially, the way they feel when they’re on mine…

“
I feel good. A bit warm
maybe. Didn’t realize the sun was actually going to work today,” I
say and laugh. “But I feel good.
Very
good. How about you?”

His gaze lingers on me. “I
feel good, too. I feel
too
good.” His voice is strained, his eyes look
almost…
sad.

I sit back down beside him. His hand
reaches for mine, but his words have made me wary. And the haunted
expression on his face. Something is bothering him.

“
What’s wrong?” I ask,
softly.

His eyes search mine for
the longest time before he answers. “Nothing. Everything will be
fine…it
is
fine.”
He smiles again, and any traces of his earlier concern
disappear.

I don’t press it. Even though I’m
dying to know what he’s thinking, I don’t want to ruin our nice
moment. Maybe it’s because of what I saw at the mall…maybe he has
something going on with Drusilla, too.

I don’t want to know…but
I
have
to
know.

I gather up the courage to find out.
“Kieron, can I ask you something?”

“
Sure. ‘Sup?” He flashes me
a quick grin, unhooks a squirming trout and places it beside
him.

“
I thought maybe I saw you
at the mall. But I’m not sure...”

He lets out a small chuckle. “You saw
me talkin’ to Dru, huh?”

Hearing him call her by her nickname
is like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. “Yeah, well, it’s no
big deal…you can talk to whoever you want,” I mumble, turning my
eyes away from him.

“
Yes, but I don’t want to
talk to
her
. I
want to talk to
you.
”

My eyes creep up his cheeks to meet
his gaze once more. “Oh. Well, why were you then? Didn’t look like
you had a gun to your head.”

He laughs. “Well, that’s
true. It wasn’t as if I was running down a mountain onto some crazy
man’s property with
her
,” he says and winks.

“
Touché.”

“
Actually, I was trying to
do you a favor.” He casts his line and looks at me from the corner
of his eye. “I saw you in the dress store with Corrine. Drusilla
was on her way in with her friend and I didn’t want her to ruin
your fun, so I distracted her for a while.”

Even my toes are smiling right now.
Meeting his gaze, I lean toward him again. He lays down his pole
and wraps both of his arms around me tightly.

Being here, kissing Kieron
and having him kiss me back is sheer ecstasy. It is unlike anything
I have ever experienced. In this moment, held securely in his arms,
I feel a deeper connection with him than I have ever felt with
anyone…
ever
. I
forget that I’m half-monster, and that he and I are doomed. It
doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is right here in my
arms, this boy kissing me so sweetly and with such
tenderness.

Right now, everything is right in my
crazy, mixed-up world.

Everything makes sense.

Everything really is
perfect.

Finally.

Chapter 17.
Lucky

“
You can’t tell Bones…or
anyone. They can’t ever know the truth. The results would be
beyond
catastrophic,”
Kieron says.

Earlier this evening, Kieron had
stopped me just as I reached the Bridge of Kings. He’d told me that
we needed to talk...in private. So instead of going directly to the
Bar, we’d detoured back to my special place high on the
mountainside where we could be alone.

I pace in circles, my hands
on my head, still unable to process all that has happened.
Cody…
Ivy…Light-angels
…It’s too much.
Impossible to believe.

“
Light
-a
ngels
? You
really think
they’re
responsible for this?” My voice is frantic, boarding on
hysterical. But I have good reason to be upset. If he’s right—and I
fear he is—our whole world is about to change.

He nods solemnly. “The burn patterns
are unmistakable. Their energy is unique to only them. ”

“
But how do you even
know
this?” I ask,
fingering my Boumeaux nervously. “If Light-angels really are
responsible for this, how did they get into Thiberoux? How is that
even
possible
?”

“
I don’t know…I don’t
know,” he mutters, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’ve never heard
of it happening before…I’ve only had experience with them in the
Mortal World. To think they’ve somehow managed to enter
Thiberoux…that must mean they’re more powerful than we’ve ever
imagined. That’s why we had to get out of there…”

I’m dizzy from his words and my own
incessant pacing, so I sit down on a rock. The Sirens are singing,
but even their soothing melodies can’t calm me now. “Okay. You need
to start from the beginning, because none of this makes any sense.
Why can’t Bones know? Shouldn’t we alert the others?”

Kieron comes and sits
beside me, his face grim. “There’s a lot I don’t know…but there’s
some stuff I
do
know.”

“
Start with what you know.”
I pull my knees to my chest and hug them tight.

He takes a deep breath. “Okay. I know
that sometimes we have conflicts with Light-angels in the Mortal
World—”

“
Duh, even I know that…but
not
here
!”

Kieron shakes his head in
wonder. “Maybe they found a way to get in through a Portal.
I
do
know there’s
a bit of a power struggle happening with their side, and it’s
always been a possibility that our side may be dragged into it. I
also know that if we go to war with them…again…the world will spin
into chaos. Millions of lives—human
and
angelus—will be lost in the
crossfire—”

I turn my face to him, my
eyes hard. “But we
must
warn the others…we can’t just let them get away
with it—”

He places a gentle hand on my knee. “A
response is just what they’re after. They left those bodies to be
found for a reason. Telling the others, especially before we have
all the facts, would be tantamount to starting the Apocalypse.” He
searches my face for understanding, and I scowl.

“
But what are we supposed
to do—
nothing
?”

He nods glumly. “For now. It’s best to
let the others think it was other demons. Better to fight a small
battle with some of our kind than to bring about the end of the
world as we all know it.”

“
But what if they come
back? We’re not safe here anymore…” My words fade away and I bury
my face in my hands.

Kieron sighs, taking my hands in his.
As he does, I realize how much I’m trembling.

“
I’m afraid you might be
right,” he says. Then he tilts my head and looks into my eyes. “But
I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this, whatever it takes. Ivy
and Cody’s deaths will not go unavenged for long. But for now,
until we know more, we must remain patient. Calm. We mustn’t let
the others know. Do you understand?”

I nod reluctantly.

******

“
Everybody just quiet down.
Silence!” Bones yells, jumping on top of a table. Kieron and I make
our way around the crowd gathering inside the Bar. I’ve never seen
it this full before…every demon, demion, and creature in the
territory has packed the place to capacity. Once word about Cody
and Ivy got out, which it did quickly, everyone came
running.

I spot Catalina weeping in the corner
and move over to place a comforting arm around her, Kieron right by
my side.

“
Okay, now that you’re all
here…we have a problem. As you probably heard, Ivy and Cody were
ambushed and killed. We found their bodies just across the Hlbafa
border.”

“
They crossed illegally?” a
demion named Jax asks. Like Bones, he’s part hellhound, but unlike
Bones, Jax’s other half is human, and he spends his days as a
Junior High math teacher.

“
No, we don’t think so. We
think they were taken to their side. Attacked in Dryndara and
dumped in Hlbafa.”

“
An attack on one is an
attack on us all!” a voice shouts, and the room breaks out in
cheers and hollers. Bones raises his hands, signaling for them to
settle down.

“
But the Hlbafa are our
allies…we’ve never had any problems with them,” a young succubus
named Zanna says.

Bones nods. “Yes, that’s been true so
far. But we don’t know if something’s changed. Perhaps it’s just
the actions of a few rogues…”

“
Kill them! Kill them all!”
an anonymous voice shouts out. More cheers from the
crowd.

Bones raises his hands to quiet them
again. “I’m assembling a small group to accompany me to speak with
their leaders. See if they know what’s going on—and if indeed this
was unprovoked aggression.”

Several voices shout in unison,
prompting Bones to shush them again. “I only want three…any more
will make it seem like we’re attacking them.”