Human (11 page)

"Heeey! You could have told me you were going shopping too!" Christina pouted. "We could have gone together."

"I thought you were at school." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Weren't you supposed to have one period more than me?"

"The teacher is sick," Christina said at the same time as her friend said the teacher had let them go. I crossed my arms and glared at both of them.

"I meant to say that," Miley mumbled.

"Look, the teacher came, said she was sick and let us go." Christina looked me straight in the eye, unblinking, which meant only one thing; she was lying. I wasn't upset that she skipped the class, because who didn't skip a class from time to time? But I wasn't happy at all that she went somewhere where she could be an easy target for demons.

"Oh, lucky you!" Italia said. "Why don't you join us?"

"That would be great!" Christina said and Miley just nodded. We went into another shop, and I pulled my sister aside, away from anyone's range of hearing.

"You didn't tell anyone about what you are, did you?" I whispered, pretending to look at some fancy jeans.

"No! I'm not stupid." She focused her attention on one pair of skinny jeans with a glittery rose patch on one side.

"Have you seen Amadeo?" I reached for the price tag, but Christina grabbed the jeans and started going towards the dressing room.

"No." Her green eyes flickered to mine before she went inside and closed the red curtain behind her. Italia came over to me, a blue dress in her hands. In all the worry about my sister, I'd completely forgotten I was supposed to be looking for something nice to impress Amadeo. Was it even a good idea to try to seduce Amadeo? At this point, I wasn't sure.

"Have you seen the hottie?" Italia excitedly whispered. "I can't believe he's here too!"

"What?" I frowned at her, completely perplexed.

"Look behind you!" she urged. I turned around, wondering what she had seen now. My heart got stuck in my throat when my eyes fell on the black-haired boy walking right in front of the shop. Devin was here and if my sister walked out... I couldn't let that happen.

"Is something wrong?" Italia glanced at me.

"I just remembered I have to do something..." I ran a hand through my hair. "I completely forgot about it. My mom will be pissed, so I better go now."

"But you didn't choose a dress!" Italia said, a look of disappointment on her face.

"You and my sister can choose for me." I knew it wasn't a good idea to let the two of them pick a dress for me, but I didn't have time to worry about stupid things like that.

"Really?" Italia almost threw herself at me. Yeah, I was going to regret this. I went over to the dressing room and peeked through the curtain.

"Hey, sis. I need to do something, so I'm leaving you three alone," I said. "Don't spend too much money."

"Ok," Christina said, and I practically ran out of the shop, waving at Italia and Miley. I found Devin sitting on one of the benches near the shop. Was it just a freaky coincidence or could he really sense an angel was around? I stopped right in front of him, blocking his view. For the first time in my life, I thought it was great that my sister usually spent a lot of time in a shop.

"Hey!" I said cheerfully, and Devin looked up at me, his cerulean eyes looking startled and slightly annoyed. Oh no, he wasn't here accidentally.

"Hey," he said, trying to see past me, but I didn't move a muscle. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same." I smiled. "But, unlike me, you look bored. Oh, are you waiting for someone?"

"No, I just..." He got up, but his eyes didn't leave my face. That was good because I needed him to concentrate on me and not on passersby. Of course, if we didn't get out of here fast, my sister or Italia could see us.

"This may sound weird, but would you like to go to the movies with me?" I was an idiot. I really was. There were tons of better things I could have said, but my brain had betrayed me.

"What?" If the surprised look on his face was of any indication, I'd say no one had ever asked him such a thing before. I highly doubted it there were cinemas in Hell.

"I'm going to see a movie, so I was just thinking you'd like to come with me." I shrugged, trying to make it appear like it was nothing unusual for me to go alone to the movies.

"Oh," he said, biting on his lip. "Ok."

"Ok?" I looked at him hopefully. God, was he going to think I was flirting with him?

"Yeah, I'm coming with you," he said determinedly. I could have sworn I'd seen his eyes sparkle with excitement for a second.

"Great!" I said, even though this was far, far away from great.

"Would you like me to carry your backpack?" he suddenly said as we were walking down the street. I looked at him like he had just turned into a monster with horns and claws.

"No, it's ok," I quickly said. "It's not as heavy as it looks, but thanks for offering."

Now wouldn't it be ironical to let him carry the backpack with the knife which I planned to use to kill him? Maybe he had sensed there was something weird. I hoped not. He didn't look like he was going to do me any harm, but looks were usually deceiving.

"I didn't see you at school today," I said, anxious to switch his attention from my backpack to something else.

"I had better things to do." He wouldn't look at me as he said it. Did I even want to know the details? Clearly not.

"So, can you make people think whatever you want?" Any information I could get out of him would be useful. The only problem was that he wasn't a sharing type.

"It doesn't work that way," he said, eyeing me suspiciously. I had to be careful, or he might realize I was up to something. If he hadn't already, that is. But I was still alive and nowhere near Hell.

"Have you ever been to the movies before?"

"No," he said softly, looking away. Was he feeling bad about it? I couldn't allow myself to feel sorry for him. It really would have helped if he looked a bit more demonic.

"Oh, well. It's nothing special, but we can get some popcorn and drinks..." I gasped as his fingers curled around my wrist, his face dark and full of suspicion.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, looking deep into my eyes. I swallowed, trying hard not to flinch under his gaze. We were standing in the middle of the street, and some people were glancing our way, probably thinking we were having a couple's quarrel.

"Doing what?" I was about to tell him we had an agreement not to touch each other, but before I could say anything, my vision blurred, and I was no longer in my own body.

I crack the door open to see if there's anyone outside. The guards are nowhere in sight, so I slip into the long, narrow hall and follow the bright light of the torches. I find myself in another hall, which leads in three different ways. I know Leonard's room is on the right and I head in that direction, my bare feet leaving no sound against the cold black marble.

I stop not far away from the door, unsure what to do. The only thing I know is that I don't want Maliadades to find me wandering through the halls
because he's going to lock me in my room again, and maybe this time Leonard won't manage to convince him to let me out. The door suddenly opens wide, and my heart starts racing like crazy, but I'm frozen on the spot.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Leonard's features soften as he comes towards me, taking me into his strong arms. "This is not a good place for three-year-olds. Let's get you back to your room."

I press myself close to his warm chest, playing with a strand of his soft blond hair.
Maliadades appears out of nowhere, his black eyes shining with fury. I bury my face into Leonard's green shirt, even though I know that won't make me invisible.

"What is he doing here?" Maliadades growls. "I told you we should have locked him up."

"He's just a child," Leonard says. "And he was in his room all the time. I only took him for a walk."

"Are you lying to me?" Maliadades asks.

"Why would I lie to you, my love?" Leonard says. "I'll just take him to his room. I'll be right back."

My vision distorted into thousands of broken pieces. I blinked a few times and was able to see the street, cars, shops and people around me. I was sitting on the bench, my head resting on Devin's shoulder, his strong arm keeping me from toppling down to the pavement.

"Are you ok?" Devin whispered into my ear, his warm breath making me shiver.

"Yeah," I breathed. My pulse sped up as I realized I didn't have my backpack on me.

"Hey, relax," Devin said, holding me so tightly that I couldn't get up. "You don't want to make a scene. People already think you're drunk."

"Where's my backpack?" I managed to make my voice sound even, but I knew he could feel the tension in my muscles.

"It's right here." He patted my backpack, which was on the bench on the other side of him. Uh oh. The only thing between me and my knife was... Devin.

"Give it to me." I had no idea how long I'd been unconscious. He could have gone through my backpack a thousand of times. He effortlessly lifted it up with one hand and gave it to me. Of course, it hit the ground almost immediately as Devin let go of it, assuming I'd be able to hold it. I rolled my eyes and leaned it on my leg so it wouldn't just lie there in the dirt.

"What did you see?" Devin's cerulean eyes assessed me curiously. I looked down at his arm still around me, and he took the hint and let go of me.

"Can't you tell?" Last time I'd been able to pull out one of his memories out of his mind, he'd known what I had seen. Or had he?

So there was actually someone like me? A demon? But that would mean Devin was right about me being a demon. The only thing that didn't make sense was why would the angels, my sister's real parents, leave her in a family with a demon. If solely demons could see through the demon magic, then maybe they hadn't known. Could it have been a coincidence that both angels and demons had chosen the same family? No, I believed not.

"Great." I sighed. The problem was that I was actually getting these visions when I
was
near a demon. And I could do absolutely nothing to control that. Maybe I should just ask him whether the other demons would come to investigate his death and how much time I had before they found me.

"Do you still want to go to see that movie with me?" I said after a few moments of silence. I couldn't really let him think I had ulterior motives, right?

"Yeah, but I know you're doing this just to find out more about your demon side," he said. "Don't even try to deny it."

"Fine. Let's go." I got up, picking up my backpack. What if I tried to kill him in the dark during the movie? No, too many witnesses and potential victims if I only succeeded to piss him off. Besides, I wasn't sure what happened to the body of a dead demon. Did it disappear? Turn into ashes? Remain the same? The last thing I needed was to end up in jail for killing a classmate. I had to wait for the perfect moment, and that moment had to come fast because those visions about Devin didn't really help me to think of him as an evil monster that needed to be stopped.

I really wanted to throw something at my sister and my best friend. They were standing in front of me, my new party dress spread in their hands, and grinning like idiots.

"What do you think?" Italia held up the dress a bit higher, almost like she tried to push it into my face and prove it was as awesome as she thought it was.

"She's speechless." Christina laughed. "It means she likes it but thinks it's not for her."

"That is..." I rubbed my face, cursing Devin for forcing me to let these two to pick out a dress for me. "I'm not... It's too short and tight and... I'm not wearing it!"

"Yes, you are," Italia said. "Just try it on. You'll see it's not that bad."

"Fine!" I snatched the dress from them and went to the bathroom. It was good that the dress was the only thing my sister and Italia had on mind because they hadn't asked me where I'd been. Going to the movies with Devin had been a horrible idea. We'd had such a good time watching an action movie and eating popcorn that I wasn't sure how was I supposed to kill him.

The stupid dress was so tight I could barely pull the zipper shut. It was a dark blue pleated dress, which came to the middle of my thighs. The fabric was incredibly smooth and soft, and it was surprisingly comfortable, which could become a problem if I forgot I was wearing it. Maybe the cold would remind me, because the dress was thin and sleeveless.

I walked out of the bathroom, a bit annoyed that I'd have to admit I liked the dress. Christina smiled broadly when she saw me, and Italia glanced from me to her.

"Oh, come on!" Christina rolled her eyes. "Just take a good jacket. You'll be freezing for a few moments, but it will be totally worth it."

"If you say so." I sighed, going for my wallet. "So how much did this thing cost?"

"Oh, forget about it. It's a gift from your sister and me," Italia said.