by Lisa Swallow
“We go back and finish this,” he said hoarsely, winding her hair around his fist, eyes challenging her.
Ava hooked her finger into the belt loop of his jeans and drew him toward her. Her chance.
“Yeah, not the right place for this,” she said into his ear, “Let’s go.”
*
“Not going to change your mind are you?” he asked, as they walked back to campus.
Keir’s question held a threat in the tone as he halted and seized her arm to twist her toward him. His warm mouth assaulted hers again, stealing the breath from inside her. “Because if you do, I’m going back there for her.”
Ava pushed him away. “Are you trying to blackmail me into having sex with you?”
Keir laughed. “I don’t need to blackmail you. I thought we were just soul-tied. But you wanted me as much as I wanted you. You still do. And so do I.”
Ava closed her eyes. Over and over she told herself he was a demon. He’d killed people, and his feelings toward her were no longer anything beyond lust. But she couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop reacting to his touch, which drove her body into maddening desire. Keir’s body once made a promise he refused to fulfill, and it ate at her. And now he wanted her to give herself over to him, when he no longer had the love that went with that promise. She couldn’t lose herself in this Keir, needed to keep the distance falling away from them.
The girl. The taunting. Keir thought he was luring Ava back to steal her soul, not realizing she had his soul waiting in her room for their return. She pulled his face to her, tightening her hand around his curls, kissing him until her lips were sore.
They didn’t speak again. Not until they arrived at the quiet campus and paced across the grass.
Ava pulled Keir by the hand toward her dorm and he paused. “Yours?”
“Not yours. No way,” she replied, “I don’t trust you.”
“And I should trust you?”
She moved toward him. “Check for weapons if you like.”
Keir’s eyebrows arched. “Inviting me to frisk you?” He put his forehead against hers. “I’m not bothered, you’re not going to get a chance to use one.”
Ava’s hands shook as she opened the door, her conflicted mind racing. Keir immediately slammed the door behind them, and drew her close. To her surprise, he didn’t force himself on her but instead held her head gently, tracing his tongue along her lips.
“I was so stupid to refuse you before,” he breathed.
The softness of his kiss fired Ava’s skin with a heat, which surged across her neck and coiled downwards. Her mind screamed at her to keep control, but the hunger inside took over and she clutched at his neck, dragging her mouth over his. His low laugh vibrated against her mouth.
Catching up with herself, she tried to disentangle her mouth from his but was crushed to him again. Keir’s tongue moved from her lips into her mouth, overwhelming Ava, sending waves tingling down her spine. She fought her bodies desire to sink into him and pushed him away.
“Keir.”
“What?” he asked hoarsely, “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged off his jacket and dropped it to the floor, revealing his damp T-shirt stretched across his toned chest. She had to get a grip. Get control. Ava shivered at the primal look in his darkening eyes. She slipped her hands beneath his T-shirt, desperate to touch his skin. His heart beat against her palm, heat emanating from his body. Grinning at her provocatively, Keir pulled the T-shirt over his head. The sinewed muscles of his forearms tugged her memories back to the time he’d folded them around her as they’d lain together. Loving her. How the hell had she got to this?
She’d brought them there.
Above his heart a black tattoo intricately wound from his chest to his side; Ava reached out and touched the ink, tracing the curves. The blood pulsed into her ears. She closed her eyes, focusing. Not her Keir.
Keir backed Ava against the door and held her there with one hand. The other hand wandered across her body, teasing feathery touches through her clothes. He traced fingers down her sides, across her legs and slid gently up her thigh. A noise of surprise escaped her lips and she tensed. His hand stopped and he buried his head in her hair.
“You’re so fucking hot, Ava.”
“Let me get undressed,” she murmured to him and he eagerly stood back.
Ava sucked in a breath and deftly dragged her vest top over her head, pushing him onto the bed. He grinned at her, eyes appreciatively sweeping her semi-naked body as he pulled her toward him. His hand hooked one of the lace straps of her bra and pulled, kissing her shoulder.
Dizzy with the desire for him to caress her, Ava’s logic and desire battled in her head, knowing if she let herself succumb to him she was lost. She pushed him hard in the chest and straddled him, digging her nails into his shoulder blades. Keir’s hands cupped her breasts, thumb rubbing her nipples through the thin lace. In response, heat flooded from her stomach to between her legs. She could feel his arousal beneath her, and wanted to yield to the man causing her to combust. Keir’s fingers fumbled with her jeans but she slapped his hand away. Keir laughed, a low throaty sound.
“Have it your way, Ava.”
The crystal rested in the drawer next to her bed. She needed him to stay where he was, but also needed to keep her self-control while he lost his. And she wasn’t doing a great job. Ava’s gaze darted to the drawer as she leaned over him, hair brushing his cheek. Keir’s head sank into the pillow, and he regarded her questioningly, biting the smile on his lip. Ava clamped her mouth back onto his and he entangled her tongue with hers, exploring her mouth. He traced his hands down her back, roaming around to get hold of her rear, groaning into her mouth.
She tensed. How far did she need to go before he lost his focus on anything but her? In the darkness, this could be her Keir again. Kissing and touching her the way her Keir would. She wanted him.
No. This wasn’t Keir.
Continuing her focus on him, Ava stretched an arm out and edged open the drawer. She curled her fingers around the crystal, fitting the ball into the palm of her hand.
Keir wrenched his mouth away, pushing her sideways. He pinned her to the bed with his body and looked at her hand.
“What are you doing?” he growled, “Surely you’re not going to try and kill me?”
Ava looked up at him, eyes wide as he extended her arm and tried to pry open her fist.
“Let it go, what have you got?”
Ava thrashed against his weight as the gem dug into her hand. “I’m not trying to kill you,” she gasped.
“Then what?” The lust in his eyes replaced by anger, he brought her hand to his mouth and bit on her fingers. She cried out and the crystal containing Keir’s soul fell to the floor.
Keir stared at the soul crystal, eyes widening, then narrowing as he looked back down at Ava. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Take back your soul, please. Be Keir again.”
Throwing her arms to one side he stood up and bent down to pick up the crystal, looking at it with the same fascination as the first time he’d seen the gem.
“Lucky me, I get to take home two souls tonight,” he said.
She pushed herself up, shaking with a mix of fear and attraction at the half-naked Keir standing in front of her, his soul in the palm of his hand.
“You were going to take mine?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Of course. An angel soul is worth a lot to me. Not as much as this one but still valuable.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Keir laughed, a low sound in his throat. “When will you get it into your head I’m not him? That pathetic soul-tied puppy dog? You think I wanted to make love to you like he would have done?” He stepped toward her, pushing her damp hair from her eyes. “I just wanted sex. I’m enjoying screwing my way round campus. And you know all the girls I’ve screwed so far are dead, right?”
Bile rose in her throat, his words stinging her face as if he’d h
it her. “No,” she breathed.
“No? Yes. I just need to decide how I’m going to kill you. I guess I could break your neck.”
Ava stumbled back to the bed, remembering the power he had, the day he’d thrown her against the wall in the alleyway.
“Any chance of finishing what we started first?” he asked, his gaze back on her breasts.
Ava colored and grabbed her top from the floor, pulling it over her head.
“I’ll take that as a no then. Shame, I thought you were having fun.”
The crystal glittered as he set it carefully on the desk behind him. Ava searched his eyes for any sign of the man who’d told her he loved her, but they were empty, glaring back at her in anger.
Her mind turned over her options. Staying alive and smashing the crystal in time to return his soul the only way to survive now.
Taking a deep breath, Ava threw herself at him, sending him crashing into the desk. Keir’s head hit the corner as he dropped to the floor, and she watched the crystal fall and roll beneath the desk. The gem didn’t smash on the carpeted floor. She gritted her teeth, wondering what it would take to break the crystal and release the soul.
Keir sat up, hand on his head, looking at the blood on his fingers. Ava was hurled backwards by an invisible force, half way up the wall and unable to move.
“You’re wasting your fucking time,” he snarled at her.
“Keir…let me down, make this a fair fight.”
“Fair? Do you think I do fair?”
Ava squeezed the tears back into her eyes before they had a chance to fall. “Fucking coward,” she muttered and found herself crashing to the floor in return.
“Okay. You’re just making things worse for yourself.” Keir pulled her up by the arm and shook her so she faced him. “Remember what I said about you signing your death warrant?”
“I’d rather die here than spend eternity in the Hell realms,” she spat, “You’re doing me favor.”
Through the open bathroom door, she saw the white tiled floor and her solution.
Before she could think any further, Keir was on her, pinning her down with his weight. As his hands folded around her throat, she scrabbled behind her for the crystal. His face remained expressionless, no emotion in his eyes as he increased the pressure on her neck. Ava’s hand found the hard object and she held the crystal tight, hoping luck would be on her side. She choked against his grip. There was no time; the room darkened around her.
Ava lifted her arm as high as she could and hurled the crystal across the room, toward the open bathroom doorway. She heard a tinkling crash the gem hit the tiles.
Keir’s grip relaxed as he jumped off her. “No! What are you doing?” he yelled, turning to the bathroom.
Ava blinked, trying to get rid of the black dots behind her eyes, and focus on the room. The shattered crystal spread across the bathroom floor, and from the center a white mist snaked upwards. Ava closed her eyes, willing the soul not to leave the room, terrified it might choose to go free. The soul twisted upwards, above their heads and hovered between them like a small summer cloud. Ava watched as the soul move toward her briefly. She reached out to touch and, in response, the soul shot upwards and moved toward Keir.
Keir turned, pulling on her door handle. “No! I don’t want it back! Capture it again!”
“It’s your soul - it belongs with you.”
As if listening, the small cloud engulfed Keir’s head, an expression of horror crossed his face as the soul forced itself into his open mouth, stealing his breath as the cloud disappeared into him. Keir collapsed, no longer breathing.
Chapter 30
The room fell silent. Ava held her breath as she watched the unconscious Keir, unsure of what he would do, or who he would be when he regained consciousness. If he regained consciousness. She trembled, hyperventilation dizzying her. For a horrifying moment after she broke the crystal, Ava had been convinced Keir’s soul would choose to head away to freedom and leave her in a room with a demon and death.
Keir didn’t move.
Had she killed him?
No. If a dagger hadn’t killed him, this wouldn’t. But he remained still, while Ava sat on the edge of the bed, listening to blood whooshing through her ears and mulling over the events of the evening. Would he have killed her? Probably. But she’d had no choice but to try without waiting for the go ahead. If Ava had waited, someone else could be dead by now.
Ava watched the time tick by on her clock. She wondered if the girl in her neighboring room was home, and had heard the fight with Keir. Every so often footsteps and voices echoed in the hallway outside. Latecomers heading home from their simple lives, born into free will. Not fighting for freedom as she had to. Even with their lives controlled by the weakness of their form, they still had more freedom than any other race. Perhaps they were cursed with this weakness because of the freedom. Since she’d discovered the truth about souls, something puzzled her. Souls chose to stay with the humans, become physical and give up their own freedom. But for what purpose?
Her hands trembled as she pulled out her phone. She dialed Dahlia’s number.
“Hello?” Dahlia sounded confused, tired.
“Dahlia. Are you with Asher and Eli still?”
“What’s happened?” Dahlia’s tone was sharp.
“Are they there?”
“Tell me what you’ve done.”
Ava paused. “I met Keir and…
“Ava!
“I couldn’t wait. I’ll explain later. Please, is Asher there?”
A silence and crackling indicated Dahlia was looking for Asher. Presently she heard Asher’s voice. “What’s happening?”
“I did it,” she said flatly.
“What?”
“He’s here. On the floor, and he’s not moving, but his soul went into him and he was attacking me, and I thought I was going to die…” Her words tumbled out, not stopping for breath.
“Ava, calm down,” said Asher, gently, “Where are you now?”
“In my dorm. He’s not moved for a long time.”
“Is he breathing?”
Ava cautiously approached Keir and put a hand on his bare chest. It rose and fell slowly. “Yes.”
“And the soul definitely returned to him?”
“Yes.”
“Hang on.”
Ava tapped her foot as she waited for Asher. She could hear him talking and recognized Eli and Dahlia’s voices in the background as he spoke.
“Ava?” Asher again. “Don’t leave. Wait there with him and we’ll be over. Pack your things.”
“Pack them?”
“Just do it. We’ll be there within an hour.”
Asher hung up, and Ava stared at the phone, dazed. For a few moments, she revisited the horror of her fight with Keir then shook the images away. Reaching for her discarded clothes, she shrugged her jacket on. Her rucksack rested in the bottom of her wardrobe and she pulled the large bag out.
Halfway through stuffing her belongings into her bag, she heard movement behind her. She slowly turned and backed away as Keir pulled himself into a sitting position and rubbed his head. He heard her move and turned to focus his eyes on her.
“Ava?” As he spoke his eyes widened, and he held his chest.
Ava didn’t move, unable to gauge what he would do. He wasn’t jumping to his feet and charging at her. A good sign.
“I don’t feel too good, what’s going on?” he asked.
“You don’t know?”
Keir frowned and touched his head, blood on his fingers. “I think I do but it’s hazy.” He looked down at his chest, then back at her. “Can I have my T-shirt?”
Ava blushed as she threw his top across the room to him. He pulled the T-shirt over his head. “Thanks.”
An awkward silence filled the space between them and Ava stared at a spot on the wall behind him, not knowing what to say.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Not great. My head hurts.”
/> He closed his eyes and rested his head against the door.
“Sorry. We fought. And things.” Color crept into her cheeks.
“I remember.” The hungry, primal look had gone from his eyes; replaced by guilt and concern. He turned away. “It feels like there’s something inside pushing against my skull. Not where I hit my head, different.” He pressed a hand to one of his eyes, grimacing. “That fucking hurts.”
“Maybe it’s the soul?”
He grunted. “No idea. What did you do?”
“Nothing. You were the one choking me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, “Sorry for…” He winced again, pressing his hand into his forehead, “Fuck”.
“Don’t talk about this now, it’s probably not a good idea.”
Ava watched Keir’s slumped figure, his hand pressed against his head and skin paper white. Nothing like the man who’d been in the room half an hour before. How much did he remember of himself over the last month? Who was he now? Her Keir again?
“I’m going to finish packing, okay?” She turned back to her bag.
He opened an eye. “Packing?”
“Asher and Eli are coming, Asher told me to pack.”
Keir’s skin paled further. “No, they can’t.”
“Why?”
“I can’t face them after…”
Sympathy for him sparked inside. He knew what he’d done.
“They don’t blame you for any of this, they wanted you back. Even after they knew about…” She couldn’t say. The girls. The deaths.
Keir hid his face behind his palms, groaning. “They should have left me.”
“What makes you say that? Surely you didn’t want to be like him forever.”
“No, but now I have to live with it.” He looked up at her, his glacial eyes pained. “I killed people, Ava.”
Ava dropped the sweater she was putting into her bag and went over to him, crouching on the floor but keeping a wary distance. “Remember Jack,” she asked, “how he was?”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. He’s human. They kill other humans. Angels don’t.”
Ava sank back onto the floor, and hugged her knees, looking at him. “Angels? You’re Nephilim.”