The Accidental Kiss (The Kiss Book 1) (21 page)

I threw my hands up in the air. “Well, it’s not hard. I’m either at home or at school.”

“Exactly. We need to keep you safe until we figure out how to stop the voodoo priest.”

My body sagged against the seat. “How long is that going to take?”

“No clue.” Daemon looked at me from the corner of his eye. I must have appeared pretty miserable because he reached across the armrest and squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be ok, Sky. I promise.”

I turned my chin toward the window and watched as my breath fogged up the glass. Since I had started school a measly week ago, everything had turned into a shit storm. The only bright spot of this whole thing was Daemon. Nonetheless, it hadn’t been easy and now he was telling me I might not see my friends or my mom for who knows how long. My chest ached at the thought. I closed my eyelids and rested my head against the warm leather. Exhaustion pulled me into slumber where for at least a few hours; I could pretend I was normal girl with a normal life.

My eyes peeled open. I looked around and saw we were pulled over on the side of the road. Daemon was asleep in his seat, head lolled to the side. It was hard not to stare at his beauty. I took in his long blonde eyelashes fanned over his cheek, full plump lips, and a jaw line that looked like it was carved out of marble.

Damn.

For the first time that day, he appeared peaceful. I let him be and stepped into the night air. The wind whipped through the tall grass as crickets chirped noisily. Moonlight slanted across the bayou on the other side of the road and my mind felt clear. I leaned against the vehicle, arms crossed. I stayed like that until a dusty light lit up the sky and dawn arrived. Moments later, Daemon shuffled out of the SUV with bed head.

He yawned. “Hey sorry, I was about to drive off the road if I didn’t get some sleep.”

“No worries.” The events of yesterday came back to me, one in particular. “Are you really telepathic?”

Daemon shot me a lopsided grin, turning my stomach into mush. “You’ve been waiting to ask me that since we left, haven’t you?”

“Maybe.”

His voice snaked into my mind, answering my question. “You’re cute.”

A blush heated my cheeks as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn’t believe Daemon was telepathic. Then again, two days ago I wouldn’t believe it if somebody said zombies existed. It made me wonder what other true facts were hidden in Sci-Fi movies.

“Why doesn’t it work both ways?” I wondered out loud. “It seems kind of useless if only you can communicate but not the other person.”

“It does work both ways if you’re a zombie.”

Of course, another thing that separated Daemon and me. “Right.”

Daemon joined me against the vehicle, crossed his feet at the ankles and dipped his head back. A light breeze caressed my skin, reminding me how desperately I needed a shower.

I picked a hangnail on my thumb. “Why didn’t you ever mention Rhodium is your weakness?”

Daemon shrugged. “I told you we had a weakness. Just didn’t specify what it was since it didn’t seem important at the time.”

Anger zipped through my veins at break neck speed. Why did Daemon get to decide what was important or not? My life was on the line, not his. Any information that pertained to the situation at hand shouldn’t be kept from me.

Fire flashed in my eyes. “That’s not for you to determine.”

At my tone, Daemon dipped his chin forward and leveled me with a look. He obviously wasn’t used to being challenged. Finally, a sigh escaped his lips. “You’re right. I’m sorry. What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

Daemon set his sights on the landscape as he spoke. “When we come in contact with Rhodium, it melts our skin until we turn to ash. However when we’re shot with it, it attaches to our cells and melts our organs. Neither way is very pretty. Since it’s so expensive and there isn’t a huge supply of it, the voodoo priest is one of the few who is well stocked due to his connections. I stole a couple of bullets when I left the clan. Two were used on the men in the van and the last one was used on Parker.”

What he was implying sunk into my brain. “So, we are unarmed?”

“Basically but we’ll figure something out.”

Daemon’s blasé attitude was unnerving for my straight-laced, always had a plan, type A personality. When the voodoo priest and his zombies came after us again, and they would, I didn’t want to be unprepared with only our shoelaces as protection. I worriedly chewed on my bottom lip.

Daemon took notice and pulled me into his side. “Sky, I made a promise to always protect you and I intend to keep that promise.” He tipped my chin up with his finger and grazed his lips against mine. “Ok?” Words ceased to exist, hell
everything
ceased to exist when he was this close to me. Daemon grinned as I nodded. “Good. We should get back on the road.”

Dismay hit my core when he let go of me and retreated to the driver’s side of the vehicle. “Daemon?”

He turned around.

“When I found you beaten, you were lying across your grave. I thought you didn’t grow up in Castor.”

“My whole entire extended family lived in Castor and so did I until I was three. It’s where our burial plots are.”

“So when you said it was the closest you could get to home…”

“I meant it literally.”

That was a good enough answer for me. “Ok. Let’s go.”

Relief relaxed his facial muscles. “Awesome.”

“But I am driving.” I went walked over to his side and snatched the keys out of Daemon’s his hand. “Just tell me where we’re going.”

Daemon groaned. “Jesus, you don’t give up do you?”

“Come on,” I coaxed.

“Fine. We’re going to New Orleans. It’s a straight shot from here.”

Daemon and I were on the same wavelength without realizing it. New Orleans was the destination I had in mind if everything else failed.

“Why can’t the woman who helped heal me help us out?”

“Because she specializes in exactly that. Healing.” Daemon cocked an eyebrow. “And we don’t want to heal the voodoo priest, do we?”

“Kind of. We want to heal him of his evil tendencies.” A thought popped into my head, changing the course of our conversation. “If you had more Rhodium, would it help kill the voodoo priest?”

“No. He’s a human encased in magic, which means Rhodium wouldn’t work on him.”

Encased brought forth the image of a man in a tomb, trapped forever but that wasn’t what Daemon was implying. “So basically, he has enough spells to keep him safe?”

“Yes. He has spells ranging from eternal life to protection. We have to figure out how to shatter them.”

I mulled over what Daemon said. “Alright.”

“Thank God.” Daemon retreated to the passenger side and climbed in.

I started up the SUV, cranked the radio and drove back onto the long stretching highway.

Since Melissa’s car accident, this was the first time I’d gotten behind the wheel. Anxiety kept me company the first hour, but Daemon distracted me with funny jokes and strange stories. It was better than a Valium. Up ahead, I spied a sign for a pancake house and flicked on my turn single.

“What are you doing?” Daemon wondered.

“I’m hungry and haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”

He sighed as if it was a great burden to eat a stack of fluffy pancakes dosed in syrup. “Alright, but can we make it quick? My friend was expecting us an hour ago.”

Merging off the highway, I pulled into a half empty parking lot and maneuvered the vehicle into a space out front. The restaurant’s exterior screamed fixer upper. White paint was peeling off in strips, the red awning was faded, and the neon sign was missing an H.

As I clutched the door handle, Daemon laid his hand on my arm. “You can’t go in like that.”

Right, my clothes were covered in zombie blood and sweat. His outfit wasn’t any better off either, though. “What do you suggest?”

Daemon stepped out of the vehicle and went around to the back. Popping it open, he scrounged around for a couple of seconds then returned to the driver’s side. A flannel button up and a black t-shirt were gripped in each hand.

“I’ll take the flannel.” He threw me the oversize black shirt. “You can wear that.”

“I’m not wearing anything that touched the zombie’s bodies.”

Daemon tugged on the flannel over his shirt. “Fine then have the waitress call the police on you.”

When he put it like that.
Sighing, I got rid of my favorite article of clothing and tugged on the shapeless black t-shirt. I knotted it at my waist so that it didn’t hang to my knees.

“Let’s go.” I climbed out of the SUV and walked into the diner. A bell jangled overhead, announcing our arrival.

A waitress in her mid-fifties strolled up to us. “Sit wherever you like,” she drawled.

Daemon took the lead, which provided me with a nice view of his backside. He chose a booth in the corner and slipped across the vinyl seats to the window. I followed suit with a smile that was wide enough to crack my face open. Pancakes were my happy place.

The waitress handed us two sticky menus. “Would you like anything to drink?”

“Just a coffee, black, no sugar.” I tapped my finger against my lips. “Also, a small orange juice and an iced tea.”

Daemon held back a snort of laughter. “I’m fine. I’ll just steal one of her drinks.”

The waitress face remained expressionless. She turned on her heels and walked off to the back. I scooted the menu to the edge of the table without glancing over it. There was no need.

“You are not stealing one of my drinks,” I said.

“Who can possibly drink three different beverages?”

My mom introduced me to the breakfast drink club when I was six years old. She said three drinks cover your range of taste buds. Sour was coffee, orange juice was sweet, and iced tea was mellow. Who knows if it actually made sense but it was something that had become engrained in me. Now only one drink seemed silly. I dug my cell phone out of my bag. I had three missed calls from my mom and ten texts from Emily.

I shrugged. “I can. Would you mind if I just called Emily and my mom real quick? I need her to cover for me so that my mom doesn’t worry. My mom has been through enough.”

Daemon’s expression hardened. “I told you. That’s not a good idea.”

I steepened my hands together in a praying position. “Pretty please with a cherry on top.” My eyes grew wide. “Please, please….”