by Kant, Komal
He wove his hands into my hair, pulling my head closer and making my head spin. His earthy, woody scent of pine was overwhelming as he lowered his lips to mine. My old feelings for him were still there, but I didn’t want him. I had to stop this. I couldn’t let him get close enough to hurt me again.
“No.” I pushed him away with force, words failing me. All I could do was stare at him. I couldn’t even bring myself to leave. What was wrong with me? “Your girlfriend just ran away crying and you’re hitting on me. Nice.”
“Kat, don’t be mad,” Talon said, catching my arm.
My eyes fluttered upwards again; scaling over his firm jaw and handsome face.
“How can I not be mad?” I loosened his grip on my arm. “I’m mad that you did what you did, and I’m mad because I can’t forget about it. Standing up for me in one instance doesn’t make up for the way you gave up on me. Where were you when I cried myself to sleep, wondering how I was going to prove my innocence? You weren’t there for me then, and I don’t want you here for me now.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “No, I don’t want to hear anymore. I just want you to leave me alone. I don’t have time for you. Stop trying to fix things between us. We are unfixable.”
Talon’s face crumbled, and I couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. I chose that moment to make my exit and create a distance between us that he couldn’t bridge.
I did not look back.
***
Loire was silent as he walked me back to my room. I wasn’t exactly Miss Chatty right now either. The encounter with Talon had left me drained.
“I’ll be out here if you need me,” he said, as we stood awkwardly outside my door. “I’m sure you and your friends have exciting girl things to talk about, like what shade of nail polish you’ll be wearing tomorrow.” I could tell he was trying to get me to crack a smile, but it wasn’t working.
“Ha, yeah.” I didn’t even have a witty comeback.
I pushed open my door and found Anna and Misha inside. They were both sitting on the same bed and sharing a pack of chocolate chip cookies—which was a freaking relief because it meant they were talking again.
“Kat!” They both stood up in unison and ran over to me, pulling me into a group hug.
“Are you okay?” Misha demanded, releasing me. “Loire came in here this morning and asked me to pack a bag for you. He told me you were attacked!”
Oh, so Misha was the one to thank for my hideous t-shirt.
“You don’t look good,” Anna said in her quiet way, watching me with those blue eyes that seemed to see into my soul.
I shrugged, taking a step back and sitting down on the edge of my bed. There was so much on my mind and it was hard to keep it together sometimes. Everything was wearing me down slowly. I wasn’t winning, I was slowly losing.
“Kat, talk to us,” Misha said.
The bed dipped down on either side of me, and Anna wrapped her arm around my shoulder in comfort.
“Loire and I were training last night in the field outside the gym.” Misha’s eyebrows shot up at this discovery. “He got mad at me and walked off, so I started heading back to school. I heard a noise, so I stopped. That’s when I was attacked. By rocks.”
No one said anything. Once again, I let the absurdity of my statement sink. Yeah, I got it. I sounded freaking insane.
“Rocks?” Misha finally asked. “Seriously?”
“I know I sound like a pot head, but that’s really what happened.”
Anna remained silent, probably because in her head she was trying to figure out the great rock mystery. I could tell she was getting nowhere from the frown on her mouth.
“Yeah, I got nothing,” Misha said with a shake of her head. “Now we have something else we need to solve. I feel like Veronica Mars.”
“Be careful, Kat,” Anna finally said. “Someone is out to get you. You’re lucky you have the SRECON agents guarding you.”
At the mention of the SRECON agents, my thoughts immediately went to Loire and the way he’d taken care of me. A hot flush crept up my neck. We’d shared something intimate last night; something that I was stupidly hoping would happen again.
“At least you’re fine now.” Anna was studying me in concern. “You seem a little red, though. Make sure you rest up.”
My mind went back to my most recent problem. I might as well get all this crap off my chest if I wanted to relax.
“I ran into Talon and Cedee.” I chewed on my lip, still feeling weird about the whole thing. “He tried to kiss me.”
“What?” Misha gasped loudly. “In front of her?” She actually seemed thrilled by the thought of this.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “She had some weird emotional breakdown and left. She’s known about me and Talon this whole time.”
“He told her?” Anna’s tone was full of surprise.
“Yeah, I guess.” I hadn’t bothered asking him why he’d told her but still refused to confessed to Delware or Parlum.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Running into Talon and Cedee had lowered my spirits considerably. Well, Cedee not so much, but Talon had really gotten to me. I needed to stay away from him. He had this way of making me feel vulnerable, and I refused to be that person anymore.
“How do you feel about him?” Anna asked. There wasn’t an inch of judgment on her face. That’s what I loved about her.
It made me squirm as I recalled the intimate moment between Talon and I; the way his hands had weaved in and out of my hair, the way his eyes had seemed to pierce me to my core, and the way his lips had been inches away from touching mine. It was weird to think about, let alone discuss my feelings.
“I didn’t kiss him.” I said this like it was supposed to answer everything.
“Did you want to?” Misha prompted, reaching for the cookies and offering me one.
I took one and bit into it, letting the sweetness overtake the bitterness in my mouth. “Yes, a little at first, but then I realized I didn’t want to. I need to get over him.” I sighed, burying my head in my hands and savoring the darkness. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I hate him, but sometimes I don’t hate him nearly as much as I pretend to.”
My voice came out muffled, and when neither Anna nor Misha said anything, I thought they hadn’t heard me.
I turned in Misha’s direction and saw her studying me hard. There was an expression on her face that I couldn’t pinpoint.
Her mouth twitched. “Are you saying that you still have feelings for him?”
After everything he’d done to me, my feelings definitely weren’t the same towards him, but there was still something between us. It was all so confusing. Plus, I was starting to think more and more about Loire now.
“I’m not sure what I’m saying at all,” I said quite honestly, looking over at Anna for some sort of reassurance.
“It’s completely normal to still have those feelings. You loved him.” Anna gave me a sympathetic smile and stroked my back like a mother would. “Try not to think about it too hard. You already have so much to deal with; I think Talon coming back into your life would be a big mistake.”
I nodded in agreement and decided to drop the Talon thing. He wasn’t a priority. I had bigger things to on my plate; things that were far more important.
“So, have you had any luck figuring out the prophecy?” I dropped my voice to a whisper just in case Loire was listening in. “Did you find any leads?”
“I’ve found a few references to Hallowed Scorn, but not an exact definition.” It was obvious that this really bugged Anna. “It seems to be a term that was used after a major event took place in Heaven.”
“What kind of an event?” I asked.
“I’m really not sure,” Anna admitted, “but it was something that changed the dynamics of the three worlds.”
“What if we never find the Mortal Blade?” My breath caught in my throat as the worst scenario possible played out in my head. “What if I’m
imprisoned for life?”
“We will find something,” Anna reassured me in a firm tone. “You have to keep telling yourself that.”
“I know, but I just wish something had come up by now. Anything.”
“Good things come to those who wait,” she said wisely.
“Yeah, except me,” I said, my voice filled with disdain. “If I wait, I get to face Parlum. And, we all know if that ever happens, you can pretty much guarantee they’ll find me guilty. Parla Hampton will make sure of it.”
Anna stiffened beside me. “That’s not true. Parla Hampton is an angel. He will do the right thing.”
“His idea of ‘the right thing’ is to imprison me so that I’m out of the way. So I don’t cause any more trouble,” I reminded her.
A thick silence hung between us as Anna contemplated my words. I knew it was hard for her to understand that an angel would wish harm upon anyone, but it was a reality she had to face. Not all angels had the same agenda. A sense of doing right was purely subjective. Anna’s idea of doing the right thing was to prove my innocence; the Parla’s was to imprison me. Their sense of justice functioned on different levels.
When Anna finally spoke there was a conviction in her voice that surprised me. “Don’t worry, Kat. We will find a way to save you. I promise.”
In that moment, I saw the resolve and determination in her eyes and truly believed that everything was going to be alright.
“This has turned into a really morbid conversation,” Misha said, jumping up and walking over to her wardrobe. “I think we should focus on tomorrow night. Kat, did you decide on any of the dresses I picked out for you?”
Misha’s parents had had five different dress selections for prom delivered to her a few days ago and since I hadn’t had time to even think about prom, Misha had kindly offered me one of hers.
“Uh.” I totally hadn’t and Misha could tell from the look on my face.
“Let’s do something normal for once,” she said, pulling each of the options out of her wardrobe. “We never have fun anymore.”
For once, I agreed with her and was perfectly fine with pretending, just for a little while, that we were normal, teenage girls.
Chapter Fifteen
When Misha, Tyrone, and I entered the hall, I had to admit that I was a more than a little impressed.
The hall was decked out with strobe lights and colourful streamers, giving off the initial impression of a normal, high school prom. That’s where any pretence of normalcy ended and the supernatural began.
An average prom didn’t have demons conjuring arches of fire and water over the heads the students. An average prom didn’t have a crackling orb of electricity in the centre of the ceiling, like a chandelier, that shot out sparks every so often. And I knew an average prom definitely didn’t have rain falling from the ceiling that magically stopped inches above your head.
The demon entertainers stood against the back wall of the hall looking imposing. Every once in a while you would see them twitch or flick their wrist as they focused on whatever magic they were creating. In the dark, their elemental markings glowed on whatever part of their body they had it on, like neon tattoos.
Misha clutched my arm in excitement as the three of us hovered at the entrance, taking everything in. She was dressed in a sexy, red dress that was so short and tight that it didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. Add in some killer, gold heels and expensive jewelry, and you got one hot demon.
On the other hand, my dress was short and white, emphasizing my tan complexion. It was backless with some beading detail on the top half and tight on the bottom half. Misha’s dresses fit me perfectly, so I was glad she was always happy to share.
The shoes were mine though—glittery, silver stilettos that put me at a soaring height. I’d kept my hair down, straight and sleek. One hot mortal—check.
Misha squealed as ice and electric magic met mid-air, right above our heads, and burst into raindrops that glistened like yellow fairy lights before disappearing into thin air. I had to hand it to them; the school had gone all out this year on the special effects.
“I’ll be over there if you need me,” Tyrone said, nodding over to the back wall where I noticed Veritas was standing.
“And here I thought you could be my date,” I said, playfully.
“I’m pretty sure a certain someone would kill me if I did that.” Tyrone winked at me before he walked away. He didn’t need to elaborate for me to know who he was talking about. He was still giving me a hard time about Loire.
When I turned back to Misha, she was giving me this annoying, knowing grin, like she knew exactly who Tyrone had been referring to.
“Hey, guys,” a soft voice said from behind us.
We both spun around and stared in surprise between Anna and her date. My mouth dropped open. I glanced at Misha who seemed just as stunned as I felt.
Anna’s date was a demon. It was Greggy.
“What. The. Hell.” Misha’s voice was strained as she stared between her brother and her best friend. Considering the circumstances, she was handling it pretty well. For now.
Anna’s face turned red and Greggy looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. It took a lot of guts coming here together, especially when the rest of the students weren’t so open-minded.
Without thinking, I gave Anna a quick hug. “I’m so proud of you,” I whispered into Anna’s ear. “And you look amazing.”
She really did. Her gorgeous hair was swept up in an elegant bun, her make-up was light and gave her a natural look, and she was wearing a beautiful, blue dress with lace at the top and layers of tulle at the bottom. She looked like a princess.
When I released her, Anna seemed confused, and Misha was livid with rage. Her fists were clenched so tightly that I was worried if she released them she might self-destruct.
“WHAT is wrong with you?” she said, turning to me furiously.
Several lines of defense were running through my head, and I was about to use one, except a tall, good looking guy suddenly grabbed Misha around the waist and wrapped her in a bear hug.
Misha squealed and turned to her date in outrage. “You almost ruined my hair, Sander!”
Yep. Misha’s date was Sander—the guy she’d been spending so much alone time with. I really couldn’t believe how low her standards had dropped.
“Sorry, babe, but you look so sexy.” His eyes raked up and down her body slowly. “It’s going to be hard containing myself tonight.”
Ugh. I nearly throw up at that, and exchanged a disapproving look with Anna. Neither of us were Sander’s biggest fans. For example, he was now looking at me like I was a piece of meat. Thankfully, he quickly became distracted by something else.
“What’s going on here?’ he asked Misha, nodding towards Anna and Greggy.
I rolled my eyes. “If the obvious hasn’t already pierced your Neanderthal brain, they’re here together. It’s called a date. That’s what you do when you go to the prom with someone.”
“Considering you don’t have a date, I wouldn’t expect you to know what that means,” a sickly sweet voice said from somewhere behind me.
I didn’t need to turn around to know that Cedee was standing behind me, but I did anyway. I hated to admit it, but she looked beautiful. She was wearing a long, green dress that hugged her figure in all the right ways. Her bouncy curls had been flattened by a straightening iron and were now hanging loose around her shoulders. An expensive diamond necklace shone from around her neck, reminding everyone how wealthy she was.
What ruined her entire look was that Oompa Loompa tan and the expression on her face—the one girls had when they thought they were the hottest person in the room. She may have been the best dressed girl here, but I would take Anna’s simple, ethereal beauty over Cedee’s over-the-top one any day.
Talon appeared beside her, looking extremely uncomfortable. It didn’t surprise me that he’d run back to her after I’d
rejected him. I tried to ignore him, but it was kind of hard when he was so close to me. His presence was one I could never shake. If he was in the same room as me, I could always feel it.
I plastered a look of devastation across my face as I faced her. “Oh, no. My life is over now because I don’t have a date. How will I ever manage to open a door by myself or pull out my own chair?”
There were a few scattered laughs, which I was thankful for. I still had an arsenal of comebacks.
I had to admit, despite her temper, Misha was a great friend. Putting aside whatever had transpired between us moments earlier, she immediately jumped to my defense.
“That’s a really nice purse,” she said, pointing to the clutch Cedee held in her hand. “What’s it made out of? Your nose hair?”
A few people snickered, and Cedee’s bottom lip curled as she leaned closer towards Misha. “You used to be cool before you started hanging out with them.” Her eyes flickered to me and Anna. “Rat is a complete loser, and your brother came with an angel to the prom. So disgusting.”
Anger surged through me, and I pushed in front of Misha so I was inches away from Cedee’s face. “Leave them alone or I’ll make you.”
Cedee fluttered her eyelashes at me. “It’s such a shame you couldn’t find a date. I wish you could be as happy as some of us are.” She rubbed up against Talon like a cat—a slutty cat. “People like you will never fit in with us. You’re disposable.”
Just as I was about to punch her in the face and break her teeth, someone grabbed me firmly around the waist. My back hit a taut, well-muscled chest and my heart leapt into my throat. That body was achingly familiar, and I immediately knew who it belonged to.
“There you are,” Loire said, clasping my fist with his hand before it could make contact with Cedee’s face. “Sorry I was late. I take it your friends kept you company?”
I turned my head to look up at him, ignoring the stunned expression on everyone’s faces. Loire wore black dress pants and a black jacket over a well-fitted, cyan shirt that outlined the muscles on his body and brought out the blue in his eyes. I had never seen him dressed so formally before, but it suited him. There was nothing he could look bad in.