by Weil, J. L.
I studied the symbol. “What does your tattoo mean?” I had wondered about the black symbol since I’d first saw it.
“It’s not a tattoo, but a birthmark. A mark of Divisa,” he replied, turning his head toward me.
“So every Divisa has one?”
“Yeah it’s the mark of our impure blood, only being half-demon, divided,” he informed
It sounded more like a curse. “Lexi told me about the hunters. Do you kill them?” I asked, wondering if my neighbor was a murderer, even though I thought it was mostly self-defense.
“The less you know the better,” he rebutted, dodging the question.
I stared at him, waiting, letting him know I wasn’t dropping it so casually.
He sighed and looked up at the sky. “You have to understand, if I don’t Angel, then they will kill me or worse, kill Lexi, but the hunters no, not if I don’t have to. A huge part of me would love to. I usually compel them to forget.”
“Do they come here often?” He rolled over on his side, and I laid my head on my arm, mesmerized by those silver eyes.
“It’s sporadic. Sometimes years go by with nothing. Then we will get a hunter or two who got wind of someone spotting so-called demon activity. They’ll come to investigate, and it doesn’t take long for people to point fingers our way. With the right questions they can weed us out. It’s the special deliveries from hell that keep you on your toes.”
“Is that why you live here, out in the country?”
“There is safety in numbers. We have sort of a pact with Hayden, Craig, and Sierra’s families. It is easier to stay hidden in a rural area with a group. It’s added protection from being wiped out by lower-demons. Not many Divisa’s can kill a lower-demon on their own.”
“But you can,” I interrupted, remembering Lexi mentioning that he was very powerful.
“Yeah. My abilities are unordinary. I don’t really need the protection of a group, but I can’t let anything happen to my cousins.”
I unconsciously rubbed the tender muscles of my bitten shoulder. It had pretty much healed, but I was left with an unusual tiny scar. Occasionally it tingled.
His eyes followed my movements. “Is your arm bothering you?”
I shrugged not wanting to sound like a pussy. “Did yours leave a scar as well?” I asked, remembering the sticky bloody bandage.
He turned his head looking at the sky and sighed. “It’s not a scar Angel. You’ve been marked.”
“Marked?” I squeaked, not liking where this was going.
He nodded, propping up on an elbow. “That bite from the hellhound put a honing signal on you. You’ve been put on hell’s watch list. They think you can lead them to one of us.”
Oh hell no. I’ve just been tagged by hell.
“It also bit you. Does that mean they can find you now?” I asked, instantly worried for them.
“No. Their venom doesn’t work on us. Our demon blood and healing abilities make us immune,” he said.
Of course. This was bad. Very bad.
I bolted up, looming over him. “And you are just now telling me this,” I shot back.
His pewter eyes flickered. “I didn’t want to upset you,” he argued, sitting up.
“You didn’t want to upset me,” I echoed. “You don’t think that I should know I am going to be hunted by – by…I don’t know what.” I brushed a frustrated hand through my hair.
Those eyes flickered golden. “Nothing is going to hurt you,” he snapped.
“I totally disagree. I have every right to know that I’ve suddenly become a priority on the underworld’s hit list,” I yelled. Would we ever be able to be in each other’s presence and not argue?
“I didn’t want to scare you.” Some of his irritation dissipated.
Too late. I was way past scared. I trembled, thinking about my brush with the hellhound.
He noticed. “We should get back. It’s getting late.”
Dusk had turned the trees grey, and the water dark blue. I’ve never been scared of the dark, but I was finding that with everything I recently learned, I was way more conscientious of things that lurked in the night.
He must have been in a hurry ‘cuz the next thing I knew, I was plucked off my feet and whizzed through the woods in some kind of vampire warped speed. When he set me back on the ground, I swayed.
Leaning on his car for support, I waited for the wave of dizziness to pass. “A little warning next time.”
We didn’t talk on the drive home. Stewing, I listened to the music as I rested my head against the seat, tired and relaxed for once in his presence. I caught his numerous looks angled my way, and it made my insides warm and fuzzy. I could smell the water, the sun, and his scent everywhere in the car. The luxury engine lulled soothingly and traveled smoothly over the road.
There was a comforting silence between us that I never thought we’d have. We always seemed to have too much emotional energy bouncing between us. It was incredible. I closed my eyes.
So when I heard Chase drop the f-bomb, I was instantly on alert, every muscle in my body tightened. My eyes flew open just in time to see a man in the middle of the road. He was in business wear, had large black soulless eyes, and must have come out of nowhere. Chase’s grip clenched the wheel, and the vein in his neck ticked. This was definitely not good.
Chapter 16
“Hold on,” he said, his eyes a hard line of determination.
Everything happened in slow motion. Bracing myself, I heard the click of my seatbelt and turned to Chase. He slammed the brakes, and the car began to spin wildly out of control. I knew immediately that his car was going to flip. At the speed we were going, there was no way to prevent it from happening. Momentum just didn’t work that way.
My scream peeled out over the screeching of tires, rubbing friction against metal. He ripped me from my seat and tucked me into his clutches. Wrapping his arms around me protectively, I was nestled against his chest. There was no time to second guess what he was doing, I could only hang on.
The next thing I knew we were sailing through the air, the wind dancing over my skin, and the sickening crunch of metal and glass rang throughout the night. We hit the ground with jarring force, but his arms never let go of me, a testament to his brute strength. Rolling once, he made sure that he took the worst of the fall as we slid to a stop. Debris scattered everywhere, making loud aftershocks.
Too traumatized to move, I sat there listening to my shaky breathing. I heard Chase wince underneath me. His bands of steel still held me protectively to him.
“Angel,” he called in evident pain.
I lifted my stiff neck off his chest and looked down into his eyes. There were cuts all over his beautiful face and down his body. His clothes were tattered, torn, and smeared with black soot, and blood, mostly his.
“Chase,” I croaked. “Oh my God, you’re hurt,” I exclaimed in panic, touching a hand to his cheek.
His eyes closed in pain.
I rolled off him, numbly feeling only a few scratches and bruises, nothing like his. Looking across the street, I saw his car flipped on its top, smashed to the ground like a Swedish pancake. He had thrown us from the car before it had rolled.
Incredible. Stupid, but incredible.
He tried to sit up, and his arm gave out on him.
“Don’t move,” I ordered. “You might have broken something.” I reached in my pocket to grab my phone. It was shattered to smithereens. “Shit,” I muttered, throwing it to the ground.
“Angel,” he called again. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Are you okay?” He sounded battered.
In a daze, I nodded my head and watched as his eyes blazed like asteroids.
“Good, ‘cuz I’m about to–”
He was cut off by a hideous hissing behind us. The man from the road glared our way with onyx eyes. Each step he thundered closer, his body jerked and flickered out of form. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it was possible.
; Like some kind of robotic creature, its features shifted, the flesh color of its skin became a sickly grey. Its movements became more alien-like and less human with each step. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had started to grow horns and sprout wings.
Chase pushed me behind him as he crouched on his feet. Falling ungracefully on my butt I scrambled to back up. A low growl burned at the base of Chase’s throat, and his eyes glowed like neon in the darkness. He was in full pissed off demon mode.
My mother was going to have a conniption fit we she saw me. I didn’t know which to worry about more, demon-Chase or the thing that was advancing on us. Either way I saw it, I was chopped liver.
From what I could gather that thing stalking us was a lower-demon. Trying not to make a single sound, I cowered on the ground. The creature gave Chase one long murderous hiss with razor teeth that dripped venom, and then just disappeared like a bullet in the night.
Shit, that was one seriously scary beast.
“What the heck just happened?” I asked when I was able to find my voice.
Chase whipped around, those golden demon eyes zeroing on me.
Uh-Oh.
“Chase, it’s me. Angel.” I tried coaxing and prayed that maybe the sound of my voice would snap him out of it. He looked ready for a fight, and he was a lot more frightening. His bleeding wounds had stopped oozing and were almost healed.
That was just plain freaky.
I scooted back on my hands, gravel digging into my already cut up palms. Those amber eyes never let me out of his sight. I was starting to become eerily familiar with this side of Chase. My back hit a tree, and I sunk against it. No place left to go, running was pointless.
I didn’t see him move, he was just unexpectedly there, in front of me. My breath hitched. This close I could feel the heat radiating off him. I kept waiting for him to make some kind of aggressive move. He just…watched me.
Feeling bold and a little encouraged that I still had my head, I slowly sat up on my knees, bringing our faces level. His eyes never left mine. It was so surreal looking at him. Every gorgeous feature was Chase’s, but he exuded power and danger. Mostly it was the eyes that changed him. Gone was the serious, arrogant, protective silver and replaced instead with something so much more haunting. I didn’t know if I could ever get used to seeing him with the pure, radiant yellow eyes.
Ever so cautiously I lifted my hand. He didn’t budge as I edgily brought my hand up to the sharp planes of his cheek. Those citrine eyes darkened. I felt like I was on the brink of some great discovery. Tracing the outline of his jaw with my fingers, his fist clenched alongside him. He never made a move to hurt me.
Maybe they weren’t as bad as they thought. “Chase,” I whispered.
With unnatural speed, his hand closed over my wrist. I jumped, thinking this was it. I had spoken to soon. When I peered up from under my lashes, his eyes were my favorite color again – silver.
I expelled a gush of air. “Chase.”
He looked out across the road inspecting the damage to his car. He didn’t appear pleased.
“Dammit, he swore. “I really loved that car.” He mourned a moment, and then announced, “We need to leave.”
“Where did he go?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. They don’t usually retreat without a fight. He will be back, I guarantee, but he will not alone. You’re not safe tonight.”
I never felt safe anymore. “How are we getting home? My phone is trashed.” I pouted just a little.
“We are going to walk,” he said matter-of-factly.
I closed my eyes and groaned. More walking. Joy.
After my second stumble down the road, Chase swept me up into his arms. My whole body ached in places I didn’t think it could hurt.
“Put me down, I’m fine,” I protested.
“Just shut up and close your eyes.”
Crap. Here comes light speed.
It was like being rocketed into space. Kicking open the front door to his house, he only slowed when we were safely inside. A surprised Travis was spread out on the couch watching TV. He turned in our direction.
“Christ Chase, what did you do to her?” Travis asked outraged, sitting up.
Having the manners of a mule, Chase ignored his cousin and headed straight up the stairs. I gave Travis a sympathetic look.
He deposited me on Lexi’s bed. “Here I can’t be around her,” he said to Lexi, and then walked right out the door.
How dare he. I couldn’t believe I’d ever felt anything for this lout other than hatred.
I grabbed the first thing I could find and hurled it at the door. The little unicorn figure shattered to pieces on contact, littering the floor with its jagged chunks.
Lexi smirked beside me.
“Sorry,” I muttered, ashamed at my outburst.
She eyed my ratted clothing and my dirt covered arms and cheeks. “Please tell me you were mud wrestling and my cousin didn’t go all commando on you,” she said, plucking a dried leaf from my hair.
“Funny,” I replied sarcastically, feeling moody.
She lifted a brow.
“Your cousin is such an ass.” I sighed, lying down on her soft bed. It felt glamorous after the hellish night I’d just had. “We saw a lower-demon on the road, and Chase flipped his car.” That pretty much summed it up.
She stared at me for a full minute. “Holy shit, you are not kidding.” She climbed on the bed occupying the space beside me.
“I wish,” I muttered and closed my eyes. “He threw us from the car. Can you believe that?”
She looked me up and down. “You look pretty good considering.”
“I think he saved my life…again.”
“I told you he had his moments,” she said beaming. “But he’s mostly an ass,” she agreed.
I cracked a grin. She hit it right on the nose.
“I’ve never had a sleepover before,” she said gleefully.
Probably with good reason.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. He wouldn’t have brought you here if he thought otherwise,” she said, trying to smooth over any anxiety I might have been feeling.
I called my mom and informed her that I was spending the night with Lexi, and I would see her sometime tomorrow. She was ecstatic that I was making such good friends.
Joke was on her.
“So he really jumped from the car?” Lexi asked next to me.
“He did,” I assured. “Lexi, when your other half takes force…” I hesitated unsure how to phrase the question. “Do you remember everything that happens?”
“It depends on the Divisa. For me it’s clearer. I am always aware of what’s happening and can even control the demon, mostly. For Chase it’s like seeing through glass. Images are distorted and sounds are muffled. There are even some Divisa who black-out during a demon episode. They don’t remember a thing. I think that would be the hardest. Not knowing what you’ve done.”
Wow. I had no idea the range of Divisa’s there where. None of them sounded the same.
“So is it possible for Chase to recognize me?”
She looked at me funny. “It’s not impossible, but it is highly unlikely. Why?”
I shrugged. “I could have sworn tonight he did,” I said, staring at the ceiling. My hands fumbled with the covers.
“What made you think that?” she asked curiously.
“After the lower-demon ran, Chase was totally gone, yellow eyes and all.”
“Wait you saw Chase’s demon?”
I nodded my head. “He just stared at me, and then…he snapped out of it.”
“That’s not normal,” she assured me in a serious tone.
Of course not. When was anything in my life lately normal?
“Do you guys have any dating restrictions?” The question came out of nowhere.
She tried to hide her smile. “No, it’s just really hard to find someone who understands all this and accepts us. It’s almost nearly impossible when
they can hardly stand to be near you.”
“I can see how that would be a problem. It’s so sad,” I admitted.
“You should probably get cleaned up. I bet you are exhausted. I’m beat just looking at you,” she grinned, twisting her head towards me.
She was right. The hot, steaming shower washed away all the grim, caked blood, and overall dirtiness I couldn’t shake. Afterwards, I laid my head on the pillow and was out like a light.
The following morning, Lexi and I walked down the stairs to a clan of voices. As I reached the bottom step my eyes immediately sought out Chase, who had a very clingy Sierra all over him. She was wearing some skanky outfit that showed off every inch of her fabulous body. She looked more like a runway model than a teenager.
I hated her.
The flirty smile she was aiming at him turned down right sour when she got a glimpse of me.
Chapter 17
“What is she doing here,” Sierra spat disgusted.
She was the last person I wanted to see, especially when I looked like complete shit. My arms and legs had a couple good size bruises that were a lovely shade of purple. At least Lexi had let me borrow some clean clothes without tears and a full night sleep made me feel almost human.
Now I had to battle against the she-devil herself.
“Cool it Sierra,” Chase warned coldly.
“Cool it? I want to know why this bitc–”
“Finish that sentence and I will throw you out of here on your ass,” Chase threatened low.
“Just ignore her,” Lexi said.
I walked the last few steps and followed Lexi into the kitchen, while Sierra burned holes in my back. She held her tongue, but I could tell she had a mouthful to say. The same question was in my head. What was she doing here? Had Chase invited her?
It kind of looked that way.
She had removed herself from draping all over Chase, but they were still huddled close, whispering. I wanted to gouge her eyes out and slice off her tongue, white flaming jealousy engulfed me.
“I can’t believe Chase asked her here,” Lexi said sounding offended.