by Livvy Aarons
“Is that the sword?” Aidan asked when I reached the borderline.
“Yeah it’s really heavy. We are going to have to take turns carrying it back to the car.”
He paled slightly as the words sunk in. “I don’t think that is a good idea, McKenna. You saw what happened when I tried to get near the tree, just imagine what could happen if I touch that sword.”
I bit my lip; Gabe had not mentioned anything about that. “Fine—let’s get going. I already have to explain why I am an hour late to my hair appointment to my Nazi best friend and why she is better off not knowing the details.” Groaning I heaved the sword over my shoulder then started the long hike back to my car.
Forty-five blissful minutes later, I knew paradise when I was able to toss the damn thing in my trunk. Aidan was a few minutes behind me getting in the car, as he stopped for the thousandth time to pee. He had barely shut the door when I hit the gas, Julie was going to rip me a new one for being late to our hair appointment.
* * * * *
The she-devil was leaned against her car when I pulled up to the hair salon; she had murder in her eyes.
I smiled innocently as I got out of my car, praying she would see my white flag. “Before you start your yelling, I need you to know that I have a very good reason for being late but I cannot tell you.”
“Fine don’t tell me. I can just hear you thinking about it” snapped Julie.
In a panic, I grabbed her shoulders and shouted, “NO! It’s for your safety that you don’t know anything about this.”
“This must be pretty bad then.”
“I would rather keep you in the dark than have some psycho try to hurt you for this information. So please don’t push this issue okay? You are my best friend and I need you.” I gave her my puppy dogface while batting my eyelashes trying to lighten her mood.
She rolled her eyes, “Gah! You are ridiculous—not to mention plain out ugly when you do that.” Playfully she smacked me on the head then led the way inside.
After the counter girl sat us in our chairs, Julie started flipping through magazines while I aimlessly spun around in the outdated pink chair. The “salon” was quite entertaining with its décor but it was the name that took me by surprise, Curl Up and Dye.
“I am sure the salons in Savannah are a lot trendier.”
My spinning came to a halt in front of her, “You should know me better than that. I never went into a salon unless I was forced by a bossy mind reader.”
She tried to hold back a smile. “Peggy is here.”
A few seconds later a short, small framed redhead entered the room. The woman was grinning ear to ear when she spotted Julie and rushed over to give her a hug. “Hey hun!”
Julie pulled away to introduce us, “Peggy this is my friend McKenna. It’s her fault that we are late.”
Thanks Jules!
“Nice to meet you hun and I would normally say no big deal on the time situation but sweetie you have tons of hair.”
I bit my lip, “My mom liked it long and I am sorry if I put you behind.”
Peggy patted my hand then gave me another smile. “No worries hun, Julie gave me strict orders about you so while my assistant fixes Julie’s hair, I will be working on yours.” She turned me away from the mirror as she began the yanking process.
The salon was buzzing during my torture session with plenty of girls and women going in and out. The phones rang almost continuously and the gossip between Julie and Peggy was just as fluent. I did however figure out sometime in the two hours that Peggy had the hots for Julie’s uncle. Pete was at least ten years older than I was and I could definitely see the attraction, he was good looking but Peggy was also ten years older than Pete. Laughing at the woman who was stabbing your head with bobby pins would be a huge mistake. I cried for joy when she said those magic words, “All done.”
Julie had already finished as well and walked around, examining Peggy’s creation. “You did it perfect…just like the picture.”
“Can I see it?” I looked at Julie expectedly.
Peggy twirled me around so I could see her concoction then smiled at Julie. “Now you tell your Uncle Pete that he owes me and I intend on collecting this Saturday.” The rest of their conversation was in the back of my mind as I stared at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t believe it, I looked pretty.
“I knew you would like it.” Julie beamed.
Her smug attitude was irritating, “Yeah, Yeah.” I said stretching then snatching her purse from the floor.
When we reached our cars I expected her just to follow me to my house however, she wanted to ride with me instead. She hated my car and my driving; both she considered too dangerous.
She had an ulterior motive, I was sure of it.
* * * * *
“So if I can’t ask where you were this morning, can I ask about the weird symbol you have behind ear?” Julie asked. Her questions had been nonstop since I had closed my bedroom door. I was letting her remove my “black hole” nail polish in the hopes that it would keep her occupied—obviously not.
“The symbol…well…let’s just say I joined a gang and leave it at that.” I did not even know that I did have any kind of marking until I got home and saw it in the mirror. Damn you Gershom! Absently my mind wandered over the events of the previous night.
Julie’s sudden gasp was proof that keeping things from a noisy mind reader is impossible. “McKenna! How could you let Aidan spend the night here? I thought that you were doing better without him.”
“Sshh!” I yelled. “Are you trying to tell the whole neighborhood?” Leave it up to her to pick that one tiny detail about Aidan to get her feathers ruffled. Forgot the whole I joined a demon assassination cult that is oddly enough, run by demons.
“No, I am pretty mad about that too but at least I can understand your reasoning behind it. The Aidan thing is ridiculous—the guy is not good for you. Besides aren’t you going to the Spring Gala with Tristan?” Julie was scrubbing excessively hard on my nails and a change of topic would be very beneficial.
“I think my fingers are going to fall off.”
She rolled her eyes, “Fine—I’m done. Now you can put your dress on without having tar on your fingernails.”
I slid into the silky material of my dress then had Julie help me with the zipper. When she had on her dress as well I barely heard her say, “Almost complete.”
“Did you just say almost complete? I seriously doubt anything else is going to fit under this thing.” The dress Julie had picked out for me was a floor length, silk gown that was snugly fitted down to my knees then flared into a mermaid cut. The color was a sapphire blue and according to Julie it was a must have since they matched my eyes perfectly. It should not have been a surprise to see my best friend sporting a pink, fluffy mass of a dress. The thing however reminded me of a Barbie I got for Christmas one year. Gag!
Slowly I looked down to where Julie held her hand out—it was a box. “Normally when a girl gets a gift from an admirer she flaunts the gift around; but I guess that girl would have to be over her ex-boyfriend for that to happen.” Her voice turned sour then she tossed the box at me.
My heart felt like stone. “It’s complicated Julie and I need you to look at the bigger picture. I have a demon on one hand who says that he wants me and a guy turning into an angel who says he needs me. Let’s not forget that I can’t trust either one and I wouldn’t say that they trust me.” I sighed heavily, letting my shoulders slump then glanced back at Julie. “The worst part of this whole mess is that I have to save them in order to save myself and I will still probably die in the process.” The pair of us stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, until her cell phone shrilled breaking the silence.
“Hello? Give us two minutes and we’ll be down.”
I eyed her suspiciously, “Who the hell was that?”
She flinched, “Tristan wanted to surprise you, by getting a limo.”
“It’s just the four of us, why wou
ld he need a limo?” I hissed.
This time Julie ignored me. “I hope your shoes fit, cause’ we need to leave before your father gets home. He will have a fit it he sees your dress.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Fine have it your way—I’ll make sure Tristan is too distracted to plot and plan.” She didn’t have time to protest before I unlaced the matching blue overlay corset and ripped it. “Oops.” The dress still covered most of my breast but the back dipped so low that my black thong threated to make its appearance.
“You are so damned childish!” Julie shouted as she pushed past me. I heard her stomping the entire way down the stairs then the whoosh of the front door being flung open.
It was hard not to laugh at her behavior and yet she called me childish. I put on the tortuous devices that Julie had picked out for shoes then followed in her angry wake.
* * * * *
Placing my key in the deadbolt to lock up my house, the hair on the back of my neck stood as attention then I felt a hot breath tickle my ear. “My God larisitá you are utterly breathtaking; It actually hurts when I look at you. I should spank your pert little ass for being such a cock tease and gouge out any man’s eyes that will devour your beauty for their fantasies.” Tristan’s hands skimmed over my hips, leaving a fire in their wake then he pressed his hips into my backside and licked the skin below my ear. A shudder went through me as I felt the hard plains of his body against mine. “Shall we go upstairs pet, where I could lick every each of your soft skin or would you rather go to this silly dance?”
“Tristan,” I said breathlessly then grabbed his hands from my hips and turned around to face him. Astonishingly his eyes were not the glossy black I was expecting; they were a vibrant gray. The demon was nowhere in their soulful depths and I couldn’t resist brushing my fingertips over his full lips. They were so soft, like velvet; I could almost feel them on my own.
“So you must be McKenna.” The feminine voice startled me and like that the moment was gone. I glanced over to see a beautiful, exotic and very tall woman, smiling at us. “I’m Kelilah.” She stuck out her hand for a handshake.
Looking down at her hand, it morphed into a nightmarish looking paw then back to a human hand. Kelilah wasn’t human but she wasn’t a were-being or a shape shifter; I had no clue what she was exactly. My cheeks burned bright when I realized just how rude I was being towards her. “I am sorry—you just caught me off guard.”
Kelilah chuckled, “Tristan has that effect on all women.” The comment barely grazed my thought process as I was still shaking her hand absently. “You can let go of my hand now.”
Flinching, I pulled my hand back then looked around for Tristan, who was talking with a shorter dark-haired man beside a monstrous escalade limo. “Do you think he could have gotten a bigger vehicle? Talk about a letdown—let’s hope he isn’t compensating for his manhood.” My forgotten audience was highly entertained with that remark. When I spotted Julie and her date Patrick sickness churned my insides…Aidan was leaning against the limo. My mouth went dry and before I knew it, I was standing in front of him and he looked pissed off.
He didn’t even try to mask his wandering eyes that seemed to touch every speck of exposed skin. “You look better than you did a couple of hours ago.”
My cheeks burned once again. “Thanks, Julie-”
Tristan interrupted by grabbing my arm and yanked me to his side. “What were you doing with him a couple of hours ago?”
“Let go of my arm damn you!” I shouted, trying to loosen his grip. “He needed me to drive him somewhere…he stayed with me last night and asked me to help him.”
When Tristan’s grip released me, I thought he had backed off but then I saw Aidan gripping the front of Tristan’s shirt. To make matters worse, the dark haired man had his hand squeezing Aidan’s arm. The standoff didn’t last, with a jolt of lighting a woman that I hadn’t seen barked an order. “STOP THIS AT ONCE! Have you all forgotten that we are out in the open where human eyes can see?” The woman was small in stature but I could see her power that seemed to be pouring from her luminescent skin.
The dark hair man released Aidan’s arm first, “I am sorry sister.”
Aidan reluctantly let Tristan’s shirt go slack. “If you ever grab McKenna like that again, I’ll break your hand off demon.”
Tristan did not back down, instead he moved in nose-to-nose with Aidan. “Listen good little boy—if you ever touch her or even think about touching what is mine then I’ll rip out your heart and shred it into pieces like you did hers.” Once again, I was shocked to see that his eyes had not flickered black. The dark haired man spoke to Tristan in a language I didn’t understand and he backed away from Aidan. Then Tristan looked at me, “McKenna we need to talk.”
“Ah, so this is the riveting McKenna.” The unknown woman grinned devilishly. “My name is Bona Dea and yes, it is a pleasure for you to meet me. You may fall at my feet for worship to praise my everlasting beauty.”
I started to tell that smug bitch where she got the asinine idea that I would ever bow to her, but I stopped when I realized that Julie was MIA.
“Do not worry McKenna, the boy and your friend are safe inside the vehicle. They cannot see us as you do.” Kelilah said gently. “By the way this is my life mate Dion.”
I stared blankly at the exotic woman before glancing at the man she referred to as Dion. The double take was apparently comical to most of the group. “What is he?”
Tristan cleared his throat, “He is a very good friend of mine and we should be going.”
No one answered my question; instead they all followed Tristan’s cue.
The ride to town awkward to say the least, Aidan stared at his shoes and Tristan stared at the half-drank glass of scotch his was drinking. Julie and her date were clueless to the tension but they were heavily entertained with Bona Dea, who talked about herself. I, on the other hand was in deep thought about the creature driving the limo, Dion. At first glance, he looked like a normal human being—well good looking but normal. However, after a couple of seconds his skin glowed a luminescent gold and I had a sudden craving for alcohol. It was strange that Tristan didn’t want to tell what this Dion was and then I remember that Bona Dea had said that she was his sister. Perhaps her self-centeredness could aid my curiosity. “So Bona, where are you from? You have a slight accent.”
Julie’s attention shifted from her date Patrick to my direction and raised her eyebrow in question. Silently I pleaded with her to play along and she nodded her acceptance. “Yeah McKenna, now that you mention it I can hear it too; almost sounds Italian.”
Bona Dea grinned, “I should be insulted by that comment but no—I am Greek.”
Interesting. Quickly I tried to skim over what I knew from Greek mythology. Before I could ask another question the limo came to a halt.
“We’re here.” Aidan said flatly. You would have thought someone announced that Elvis was outside at the speed everyone excited the limo. However the only thing awaiting us was the swarming masses of people going in and out of the town’s single building big enough to hold this shindig; Harper Hall. The late spring air was refreshing after being in such cramped confinements with a demon that smelled of salty ocean breezes and a soon-to-be angel that reminded me of a bakery. It was when I felt the electric tingle did I acknowledge the rest of my party and the argument in progress.
“This is utterly ridiculous!” shouted Bona Dea. “Brother do you agree?”
Dion looked torn but when he spoke his decision was firm in his eyes. “Yes—it is for the best. In fact sister, Kelilah and I are going to head back to Tristan’s place as well.”
Bona Dea snarled at Tristan then climbed back into the car.
Kelilah was the only one of the three who came to say goodbye. “I regret that we must leave but it is like my mate said, for the best. He did not realize that his sister would have such a problem with…the situation. So, goodbye my new friend and I hope we shall see each other again.” She smile
d as I said a shaky “Bye,” and before I could ask what situation she was talking about, she left to say her goodbyes to Tristan.
It was like a slap to the face when I remember that normal people had been in our little party. Glancing around I was relieved to find Julie with Patrick who was standing in a group of his friends far enough away to miss any of what was happening. Aidan however was nowhere in sight. Hiding did hold some appeal and the girl’s bathroom was a good starting point. Perhaps I should have waited on my date to finish with his friends or even told Julie that I was going in…but I just needed some alone time.
I stayed in the locked stall for at least thirty minutes until someone knocked on the door. I was sure that Julie had found me. “Can’t a girl be left alone? Screw Tristan with his big-” I froze mid-sentence when I flung open the stall door and saw Julie was not my knocker.
“Yes, it is very big.” Tiffany smirked. She took a few steps back to let me exit the stall completely then folded her arms, waiting on my next move.
Considering the location and my already battered body, I was not in the mood for her confrontations and tried to leave without one. Eva however stood in my way. I glanced at Tiffany, “Tell your drone to let me by. The bathroom is not the most sanitary place to get your ass kicked and I have a date that is waiting on me.”
In no way did she look defeated. “That’s right Tristan is your date. I almost forgot and apparently so did he, since he was surrounded by his adoring ‘drones” as you would call it. The whole thing would not have looked suspicious if he wasn’t flirting back.”
Sanitary or not I wanted to make the skank bleed. However, I wanted to make Tristan bleed first. Storming out of the bathroom, I did a quick scan of the crowded rooms and found the culprit in one of the sitting areas with his flock knitted tightly all around him. Damn him for making me jealous and damn Tiffany for being so right. Most of all damn myself for even caring at all! Tristan was probably doing this to prove that I was just some plaything of his, nothing more than the sea of girls he strings along until he gets what he wants. The hallway was beginning to thin out and I couldn’t let him see me in this condition; eyes glassy, jaw tense and my hands balled into fists. The demon would know that his poison had seeped into my heart. In a sort of panic, I darted to the front door. There were still a few people standing outside talking so I scurried to the side of the building out of sight. The alley was narrow with the forest bordering the path and I was thankful that there were lights on the side of the building. I followed the path until reached the rear of the building and saw an old gazebo that was overrun with ivy. Julie would have a fit if my dress got dirty, despite the fact that she didn’t pay for it.. The sapphire blue gown was very beautiful; it was a shame that such a dress was wasted on me. Slowly I walked into the dilapidated gazebo then twirled the silk around with my hands as I pretended to dance like they do in fairytales. Ha! Stupid fairytales with their stupid happy endings and their stupid false hopes. The sound of a twig snapping jerked me from my dancing.