The Accidental Kiss (The Kiss Book 1) (27 page)

“I was the one who found you, Daemon, wandering the streets of New Orleans without a clue what to do next and or how to live as a human in the twenty-first century. I brought you into this house. Fed you, clothed, and eventually fell in love with you.”

My suspicions were true. There
was
something between Daemon and Mrs. Ruth. The green-eyed monster reared its ugly head and the air got sucked out of my lungs.

Mrs. Ruth looked at Daemon tenderly. “When I realized you didn’t return my feelings, I set you free. Now you’re back and you’re asking for help to save…” Her chin wobbled. “I have the right to strip you of everything you care about because you did the same to me.” Daemon took a step towards her but Mrs. Ruth held up her hands and halted him. “Don’t. Just leave. Please. I need a moment.”

I could tell Daemon was torn between wanting to comfort her and respecting her wishes. The good southern gentleman inside him won. “If that’s what you wish. We will reconvene when you’re ready.”

Daemon lightly squeezed her shoulder as he walked over to the staircase, leading up to the main story of the house. At his touch, Mrs. Ruth’s face crumpled and my heart reached out to her. No woman should have to experience the pain of losing her beloved more than once. I almost wished Daemon had felt the same as her. Almost. I quietly followed him out of the basement and left Mrs. Ruth to battle her heartache alone. The mid-afternoon sun slanted across the hardwood floors. A slight breeze kissed my bare skin, which felt glorious after being locked away in a windowless room.

“Hey, hold up,” I called after Daemon.

His stride didn’t falter as his head turned. “What?” He bit out. “I have stuff to do.”

The sharp barb of his tone slashed my insides. I blew a piece of my hair out of my eyes and skidded to a standstill. Whatever Daemon was working through couldn’t be soothed by my presence or my words. “Nothing. Forget it.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Outrage seeped into my veins, tinting my vision red. He had no right to talk me as if I was gum on the bottom of his shoe. Especially after the betrayal, the lies and blatant misuse of the trust I had put in him.

“How dare you?” I hissed.

Daemon’s shoulders stiffened as he spun around. Fire blazed in his eyes. “How dare I what? Hm?”

“How dare you direct your regret and anger at me. I’m not your fucking punching bag.”

A bitter laugh broke from his lips. “That’s right. We’re friends. Isn’t that the term you used?”

I had seen different sides of Daemon over the past couple of days but this was my least favorite. He was cruel and callous. Irrational. “It’s for your own good.” I threw back the question he asked me last night. “Don’t you want to live?” Fear turned in my stomach when I saw the answer hidden in his eyes.

“It was a gift when the priest told me if I fell in love, I would die. Finally, the nightmares would no longer haunt me and there was only one person who had ever truly captured my soul.” His gaze pinned me into place. “The girl who changed everything.”

“I was the reason Mrs. Ruth set you free.” Awareness settled over me and the room spun. My body sank to the floor. “You never had any intention of living, did you? I was just a sick ploy to redeem you of your sins.”

“You were more than that. You were a chance to experience love, true love, so that I could die a happy man.”

“But…you can’t love me. You hardly know me.”

I heard his footsteps grow closer until his shoes came into view. He tipped my chin to meet his gaze and I saw how far the depths of his feelings went. They were endless. “You are my savior and my greatest weakness and I knew that as soon as I laid eyes on you. Don’t you understand, Sky? I would die a thousand deaths if that meant I could love you for a single day, a single hour, a single breath. You are worth it. You will always be worth it and pushing me away isn’t going to burn out the love I feel toward you.”

Tears formed under my eyelids as desperation took hold. “But….how?”

An infectious grin lit up his face. “Because you are impossible not to love.”

Daemon was no longer the same person the voodoo priest turned him into. The evil acts he committed were exactly that, in the past. The man I had come to care deeply for was charming, selfless and undeniably sexy. Forgiveness seeped into my heart. We had to defeat the voodoo priest and get Daemon’s soul back before it was too late but I should have known fate had a sick sense of humor. Suddenly, Daemon’s features turned pale, his eyes grew wide and his mouth gaped open in agony. Stumbling away from me, he let out a distressing groan and collapsed face up onto the hardwood floors.

“Daemon,” I screamed. Crawling over to him, dread turned my blood cold. His vacant green eyes were devoid of any warmth. I gripped his t-shirt and pleaded. “Please, no, please.” Looking around the house, desperately, there wasn’t a soul in sight. “Somebody help us!” My cries of help were met with silence.

The attic room’s slanted ceilings and exposed brick walls held a hundred years of history. It was sparsely decorated with a twin bed and an overstuffed armchair covered in a floral pattern. Daemon’s feet jutted out over the mattress, making him look like a giant in a kid’s bed. When they had moved him here after the incident in the foyer, I inquired about a larger bedroom but Mrs. Ruth said this space encouraged healing. Since she was the expert, my concerns were kept to myself. Daemon’s eyelids fluttered against his cheek and his hands clutched and unclenched at his sides. He never stopped fighting even in his sleep, which was the reason why Mrs. Ruth’s vitality spell worked wonders on Daemon. The man was a force to be reckoned with. I bent my neck to the side, releasing the tension. In those few moments Daemon was presumed dead, it dawned on me how much he had become an integral part of my life and what a bleak existence it was without him.

I entwined my fingers into his and squeezed. “You’re are not going to die because of me. You hear? We will defeat the voodoo priest and get your soul back. I promise.”

“He is as stubborn as a mule.” Mrs. Ruth entered the room and looked at Daemon with a mixture of disdain and gratefulness. “I told him he shouldn’t have gone after you. That you weren’t worth it.” Her glance cut over to me. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“But he wouldn’t listen. To him, it sounded romantic. Dying for your one true love.” The bracelets around her wrist jangled as she sat on the edge of his bed. “He may look like a linebacker but he’s actually a huge softie.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Daemon shouldn’t have broken Mrs. Ruth’s heart. She loved him enough for both of them and most importantly; he would have remained safe in her care. “He should have stayed here.”

“I used to believe that for a long time,” Mrs. Ruth said solemnly. “It was the fantasy that helped me sleep at night. However, I never loved Daemon like I loved Laurence with wild abandon. Safe equals boring and who wants boring?”

Glancing at Daemon, my mouth tugged into a grin. “What Daemon and I have is anything but that.”

“Exactly. While it was the hardest decision I have made, it was the correct one to set him free. Daemon wouldn’t have been happy here, knowing you were out in the world unprotected, and he has enough regrets.”

If somebody told me I would have developed strong feelings for Daemon a week ago, I would have called them nuts. He was a thorn in my side that never quit, but damn it, he was my thorn and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As I smoothed hair from Daemon’s forehead, he stirred in his sleep.

“The vitality spell should prolong the inevitable. However, it hasn’t cured him, remember that.” Mrs. Ruth said sternly. “You have three days max to defeat the priest and after that there is nothing left I can do for Daemon’s soul. It will evaporate in the jar that contains it.”

I heard an imaginary clock ticking down the minutes until Daemon was ripped out of my life for good. I wouldn’t let that happen though since there were two lives on the line now. His and mine. Unfortunately, we had unearthed nothing of use in the apothecary so the details on how we were going to do that were murky at best.

“Do you have any leads yet?” I asked.

“Almost.” She rose from her place on the bed and walked out of the room, abruptly ending the conversation.

As the day turned to night, my butt stayed firmly planted in the seat next to Daemon’s bed. Mrs. Ruth’s servants came by with water and food, which I hardly touched. My stomach was in too many knots to eat. Mrs. Ruth was a gifted healer, however, when it came to magic, it appeared as if the voodoo priest ruled in that area. What if she couldn’t find anything and Daemon and I left New Orleans unarmed with targets on our backs? I chased away the discerning thought. Daemon let out a groan and opened his eyes. They were back to their normal striking green. Relief flooded my veins.

“Hey you,” I said. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”

Daemon flopped his head to the side, setting me in his sights. “Very funny. What happened?”

“You almost died and then Mrs. Ruth made you drink some kind of spell that slowed the demise of your soul.”

“I guess the voodoo priest wasn’t kidding around.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

Daemon struggled to sit up. I slid my hand underneath his arm and helped him get situated against the pillows. “This bed is too small,” he grumbled.

“That’s the least of our worries right now. We have to leave as soon as possible. Mrs. Ruth said you only have three days left before the spell wears off.”

“I told you, Sky. I don’t care if I die as long as you’re safe.”

It irritated me that Daemon had such disregard for his own mortality. He had regrets just like everybody else but that didn’t mean he had to suffer because of them. Plus he was being selfish and not thinking about the pain his death would cause to the people who cared about him the most. Namely me.

I gripped his t-shirt. “Well, I care and as far as I am concerned you are not going anywhere.”

Daemon was a smart man because he didn’t argue with me. He simply took what I said at face value and changed the subject. “How long was I out?”

I released his shirt and settled into the cushion of the armchair. “A couple of hours.”

He studied the hardwood planks of the ceiling, his brain working on overdrive. Minutes or hours ticked by in relative silence. Time didn’t exist in this little corner of the house. My eyelids grew heavy as the day’s events settled over me.

As I was about to give into sleep, Daemon spoke. “Don’t let what happened scare you off, Sky. I will never stop loving…”