by Tarisa Marie
It takes me a minute to gather my thoughts. “You didn’t choose to be what you are, and you can’t change it. You were born the way you are, and as you explained to me earlier, you aren’t a monster, Aiden, you actually save many lives when you look at the big picture. I know you, and you’re far from a monster, I promise you.”
“My step parents Anna and Thomas were told by the demons who came to take me what I was. They didn’t believe it at first, but then they thought about some of the strange things that they’d seen me do, like accidentally move too fast or heal too quickly. They turned on me, and I was going to let them kill me. I just sat there waiting for it. I had no idea that I couldn’t be killed in such simple ways. My biological mother never told me much about me, just need to know stuff. The two demons who came to take me, had no patience at all. One of them had the ability of telekinesis, and with a flick of his wrist, my parents’ necks snapped like twigs. It’s my fault that they died and although Crispen, Aria, and Mason don’t know this truth, I’m sure they’ve assumed it. I don’t blame them for wanting me dead honestly.”
“It’s not your fault. You were young, and you knew next to nothing about what you were let alone who you were. What were you supposed to do, find an entrance to hell or search out other demons? How were you going to do that?
“I don’t know, but I could’ve tried a little harder. I was twenty-six and still living with my parents. Back then, that was very strange. I should’ve been married with kids by that age.”
I look at him and cock my head to the side. “Yeah, but if that was the case, then it would’ve been your wife and kids that got killed.”
“A few minutes earlier or later and it could’ve been my siblings,” Aiden reminds me. “I should’ve done something.”
“A few minutes ago weren’t you talking about accepting things and moving on?”
He goes silent, obviously catching my drift.
“It was like three hundred years ago, Aiden. Time to move on.”
“Let’s talk about something less depressing, shall we?” he offers and repositions himself on the bed. He lies down beside me again and uses his finger to trace my jawbone. “Have I ever told you that you’re beautiful?”
I giggle. Only a million times.
“Maybe we should get in one more training session before tomorrow,” I suggest and nod to the bedroom door. I’m pretty tired, but I feel like if we’re going to hell tomorrow morning, I should probably practice my right hook or something, not that one more practice is going to make me a pro. I also really don’t want to get out of this bed where there’s the chance that Aiden might kiss me and make my head spin again, but reality is a little bitch.
Aiden is normally the one pushing that we train, but when I mention training this time, he makes a pouty face.
“What?” I ask him, squinting as if looking at him through squinted eyes will help me read his mind.
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
We both reluctantly get off of the bed and head to Aiden’s massive training room. I’m in pajamas from this morning, but I don’t really care. Aiden doesn’t seem bothered by this either.
He carefully removes his expensive cufflinks and unbuttons his shirt. There’s no point in ruining a shirt that probably cost more than my car. He tosses it into the corner of the room. Seeing Aiden’s bare torso isn’t anything new. Each time it takes my breath away. He has the most perfectly sculpted body that I’ve ever seen.
Before I even have the chance to stretch, because I’m momentarily distracted, Aiden throws me down onto the mat. Even though the mat is soft, my head still hurts from the blow. I look up, and he smiles over top of me.
“Ow!” I shout playfully and jump up. “I wasn’t even done stretching!”
“Do you think that a crazed hunter or demon is going to give a crap if you’ve stretched?” he asks me teasingly.
He’s right, no, no hunter or demon or anyone with the audacity to attack me is going to give me time to stretch. With my slow reflexes and snail speed, I know I have no chance against a demon or a hunter, but this training is so that I can protect myself after becoming a pure demon. That’s what it’s meant for anyway. I won’t be becoming a demon, but I find relaxation in sparring with Aiden. It takes my mind off of all that is going on around me, and maybe if I’m lucky, if it ever comes down to a fight against someone with super speed, I’ll at least be able to stall them for a moment so that Aiden can reach me and save my ass. That’s what I tell myself anyway.
Aiden instructs me to come at him, so I lunge for him. He plays along, pretending that his reflexes are as slow as my own like he always does. He still catches my arm and throws me around. His arm wraps around my neck in a headlock and he says, “Crack, you’re dead.”
Our training sessions always go like this, for hours of the day. There’s no reason that someone as old and experienced and fast as he should ever let me actually land a significant blow. It’s not plausible. I think back to when I stabbed Crispen with the ruby knife that day at his house. That was a complete fluke. He was distracted, and he never thought I would stab him in the back...literally stab him in the back.
Aiden releases his hold, and I turn around to face him again. He crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows, waiting for my next attack. I come at him but at the last minute, I swing my legs up to hit his jaw. I use so much force doing this that when he backs up, missing my blow, the force sends me flying over backwards onto the mat. I curse and again stare up at his grinning face.
“I suck,” I groan.
“Nah, I’m just skilled,” he fires back, his grin widening in a teasing way. He reaches down and helps pull me up.
“Yeah, no kidding. I’ve seen you kick ass,” I mutter as my head spins. He lets go of me, and I struggle to stand up straight.
His lips twitch. “Are you talking about me taking down my siblings? That was nothing. You wouldn’t believe what else I can do.”
“Speaking of which, I watched you fling Aria across the room like she was a piece of candy,” I accuse, remembering his display of what appeared to be magical powers or something.
“Like a piece of candy? What? That’s what comes to mind? Candy?” he wonders, amused.
I nod, waiting for his answer and ignoring his jab at me. I’m having a sweet craving.
“Telekinesis. One of my…super powers as you tend to call them.” Aiden chuckles. “I’m not much of a show off. If I don’t need to use them, then I don’t.”
Not much of a show off? Ha! Maybe he doesn’t mean to be, but to me he’s like some sort of god.
“So you can just move shit around with your brain?” I ask, mouth sagging open a bit.
He smirks and trouble fills his eyes. “Yes.”
“Show me,” I plead. I’m still not sure if what I saw earlier really happened.
Suddenly my feet are not on the ground any longer. I’m hovering nearly a foot off the ground. I’m sure my expression contains both astonishment and fright. I scream. Then when I realize what’s happening, I kick and yell for him to put me down.
He laughs deeply and sets me back down. I warn him that he better not do that again, or I’ll kill him. He laughs at my threat. We both know that I can’t kill him.
“Sorry, but I had to,” he says through another laugh.
“You had to?” I ask, crossing my arms. My heart rate begins to slow down, and my anger starts to dissipate.
His humor fades. “Sorry, Megan, I shouldn’t have done that. It was rude.” His playfulness begins to fade, and his usual, more serious attitude returns.
“You just scared me is all,” I mutter, almost embarrassed. God, I’m such a baby. All he did was lift me a foot or so off of the ground. Yeah, with his fricken mind! Okay, a little freaky, but I’ve dealt with a lot of strange things the past few months. Why I am freaking out over something as small as this, I don’t know.
“Sometimes it’s too easy to be myself around you, and I forget that we are more different than w
e are alike. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologizes again.
His words sound almost sad, and I feel bad for getting upset. He was just being himself, and can I really be angry about that? No. I want him to be himself. He shouldn’t have to tone himself down for me, because I’m faint at heart and ‘breakable’, as he never fails to remind me. He puts on a human persona for me, and I know a lot of it is tough for him. How terrible would it be to have to slow yourself down for someone and hide a huge part of yourself from them at all times, just so you didn’t scare them off?
Aiden sometimes seems embarrassed by his true nature. He never wants to talk about himself and what he is. He avoids the conversations at all costs. When he does talk about these things upon my questioning, it’s very reluctantly. He likes to leave all the demon lessons to books and not lectures.
Now, he finally acts like himself, and off I go freaking out like some child. No wonder he looks hurt. He thinks that he can’t even be himself around me without scaring me off.
“Don’t apologize. It just caught me by surprise is all,” I try again. “Aiden?”
He makes eye contact with me.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re human around me you know. You’re not about to scare me off. I’d rather you be you than pretend to be something you’re not. I’m going with you to hell tomorrow. I think things are going to have to change.” After today, everything is going to be different. Even more different than it already is. I’m going to be thrown into a whole new world again.
Aiden smiles softly, the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “You can’t come with me tomorrow.”
My heart sinks.
“I can’t have that place tarnish you, Megan. You have no idea what it’s like. Please stay here. That light I see in your eyes, hell will extinguish it like nothing.”
I shake my head sternly. I thought we already made an agreement about this.
“I wish you would change your mind. I really do. Sleep on it okay? I know we didn’t get much training in, but you need your rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.”
I don’t argue. I’m tired, and I can tell that Aiden is done with training for today. Demons don’t sleep, so I wonder what he’s going to be doing all night.
I head off to bed, knowing that tomorrow is going to be a crazy day.
Chapter 18
I wake up in the morning to a full breakfast cooked by none other than Aiden. Since the servants are all gone, he’s cooked me bacon and eggs. While I’m still groggy, he sticks the hot plate on my night stand with a note to meet him in the training room when I’m ready. I hurry through my breakfast and race down the hall to the training room.
I stop outside of the room when I see his shirtless chest. He doesn’t see me, though I’m sure that with his super hearing he’s heard my approach. I stand outside the room and watch him go at a metal dummy. I guess the plastic ones probably don’t last long with the harshness of his punches and kicks.
He moves with unbelievable speed, and his moves are flawless. I wish I could move like he can.
He finally turns around, a thin sweat breaking across his chest and brow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him break a sweat like this. He uses a thin blue towel to wipe himself off and then comes out to greet me.
“Good morning, Megan,” he says cheerfully. I can’t imagine why he’s cheerful, we’re going to hell this morning after all.
“Morning,” I say in return and follow him down the hall. “When are we leaving?”
“So you didn’t change your mind then?”
“Nope. You’re stuck with me,” I bug him. Following him doesn’t let me get a good view of his chest but his back and butt are also nice sights. Any part of him is good to look at.
He grabs a glass of water from the counter in the kitchen and downs it in a heartbeat. Then he turns to me and grins. “Maybe if I put you up in the air again you’ll change your mind.”
I pretend I’m debating it and then say, “Doubtful.”
His magnificent grin falters, and he nods back to the hallway. “Get your things gathered up, and get dressed. Anything you want to take. Leave it in front of the door, and I’ll run it out to my car once I’m changed and have my affairs in order.”
“We’re driving?” I ask him curiously. I guess I can’t be exorcised there, because I’m not a pure blood demon, so we’ll have to find the gate that’s supposedly around this area. I’m sure he knows exactly where it is.
“Yes,” he answers, humming to himself. I’ve never seen him so giddy. Is he excited to go to hell or something?
Then he’s gone. I wish he would just leave the place looking like he did seconds ago, shirtless. I don’t know why someone with such an exquisite body even bothers wearing clothing. I take off back to my bedroom and pull out all of my attire. Aiden’s bought me a fair amount of new clothing since I’ve been living with him, I guess he’s not much of a fan of my band t-shirts and sweatpants. He’s slowly been redoing my wardrobe. I can’t say that it bothers me. I’ve never been able to afford such luxuries as designer dresses and shoes. I mean, it never really bothered me that I couldn’t afford these things, but the fact that Aiden is gifting them to me and won’t take them back upon my insistence, let’s just say, that I am extremely thankful. I don’t need fancy things. I don’t need much. I grew up with hardly anything, but having luxuries isn’t something that I’m going to refuse. From what I can tell, Aiden has far more money than he even knows what to do with.
I asked him one time how much money he thought he had, and he told me that he could probably be considered one of the richest men on earth. He also told me that though it’s not a secret, it’s not something he likes to blurt out. Of course, if anyone saw his home, his car collection, and his things, or looked closely at the brands he wore, they would know that he was swimming in money.
Yet although he has all of this money and holds the position he does, deep down, Aiden is not influenced by this. He is just a regular guy, that is, if you take away the fact that he’s a demon.
I throw some of my things into my bags and then pull a few of my favorite outfits in bags from my closet. Can I take these? He said to pack whatever I wanted. I shrug and throw them on the pile. I then throw some extra shoes into one of my bags and grab some jewelry and throw it in as well. I look around the room and decide that this will do.
I put on a set of clothes I left out, and I run a brush through my hair.
I try to take both bags, and the dresses at the same time, but I get out to the hall and drop everything into a heap. I need to do some more strength training. Not that I’m weak or these bags are light, but this is pathetic.
I look down to pick up my stuff, but it’s gone. All of it. Eyebrows merging, I hear a loud chuckle ahead of me. I speed walk towards it and find Aiden standing over them in front of the door. I didn’t even see him pick them up. I stare, surprised, and he winks at me flirtatiously.
“Thanks…” I trail off, my eyes likely bulging out of their sockets.
Aiden grins wickedly, then he’s gone from the room. I stare blankly at the spot he was just standing in. Apparently he took what I said last night, when I mentioned him holding back his true self, seriously, and he’s letting it all out. No more human-like charades. It’s weird, but at the same time it’s really not.
Aiden returns a moment later with his car keys. “Here, can you bring the black car from the second garage out front?” he asks me.
I look at him like he must be joking. He wants me to drive his car? Is he insane? Even if it’s just for a half a kilometer, he must be nuts. I know by the glint in his eyes that this is one of his many fancy cars that I will never allow myself to drive in my life.
“I’m joking, Megan. I know you don’t know how to drive stick,” he says through a chuckle. “And I know how uncomfortable you are with driving my cars.”
Once he made me pull one of his cars ahead a couple feet onto some mini ramps, so he could change the oil. I think he did
it just to laugh at me.
“I’m kind of surprised we’re not taking a limo or flashy suburban like we normally do when we leave the house,” I observe. Aiden’s cars seem to be more for show than anything. I can’t recall a specific time when we actually left somewhere in one of them. He uses them for work I guess.
“Would you rather take a limo? Are you afraid of my driving?” he looks unconcerned by my statement, like it would be simple to just call a limo. One of the guards usually drives it though, and we are sort of unguarded at the moment. That must be why we’re taking one of his cars.
“No, no. I’m just surprised is all,” I note.
He’s gone and back with the car in maybe a minute total. I reach down to grab at least one of my bags to haul to the car but realize that Aiden must’ve taken them out with him. What a gentleman.
I walk out to the car and Aiden shuts and locks the house door behind me, miraculously still beating me to the car.
I take a seat in the passenger seat and switch on the radio before tugging on my seatbelt. He switches something to ‘sport mode’, then suddenly we are going incredibly fast towards the front gates which have been left open without guards to operate them. How did I not guess that Aiden was such a super important man with all of this luxury? I mean really. How dumb am I?