“Now, Mickala said you had an apartment, or a townhouse? Where at?” he asked.
“Um, it’s a three bedroom on Marrywood Drive,” he said.
Victor was thoughtful. “Why don’t you just stay here? God knows we’ve got the room, and it’s the least I could do after everything you’ve done for Mickala.”
Aiden was speechless at the invitation, and it took him a few seconds to regroup. “Are you sure? You don’t even really know me.”
“Mickala does, and she trusts you. That’s something very few people, human or demon, can do, and that alone tells me everything I need to know about you. You’ve saved her life twice, and I can’t argue with that. If I can’t trust you around her, then who can I trust?” Victor asked.
Aiden looked at Mickala, and she was pleading with him in her eyes. Finally, he sighed, giving up. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, then okay. I’ll call and let the landlord know.”
Mickala threw her arms around him, and Victor laughed. “We can get a truck to get your things tomorrow, if that’s okay with you.”
“Yes, of course. Whatever works for you, Mr. Cla-, I mean, Victor.”
“Oh, and Ian and Nehela are more than welcome to come as well,” he said.
“I’ll tell them the next time I talk to them,” Aiden said, Mickala still hugging him. They helped Victor get the rest of the groceries in, and a few minutes later, Mickala couldn’t resist the call of her guitar any longer, and the three of them went out to the garage. Aiden’s mouth dropped at how well she played, and the feeling seemed to be mutual when she offered him the guitar and he took a few turns on it. Victor just sat back in a chair, a smile on his face as he watched the two of them laughing and carrying on.
***
After EJ had attacked her, he had been so worried about her, and not just her physical wellbeing. God knew she tried to act normal around everyone, and to her credit, she fooled most of them. Victor, however, wasn’t one of them. He knew, compared to how old she truly was, he had only known her for a short time, but even he could see in a dozen different ways how things weren’t okay. He had wondered if she would ever really overcome EJ’s apparent betrayal.
Now, as he watched her and Aiden goofing around, he felt the faint stirrings of hope that maybe, just maybe, she could start being herself again. He couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was finding out it wasn’t really EJ’s fault, and how much of it was Aiden himself.
His smiled widened as he remembered her phone call this morning, and her excitement as she told him about Aiden and the others. She was happy again, and for that alone, Victor owed everything he had and then some to Aiden, and even he could see how deeply Aiden cared for her. He pulled himself back to the present as he heard Aiden’s deep laugh. “Ian’s going to be thrilled.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Well, Ian likes to play drums. He says it’s a good anger release when humans upset him, but for the past few years, it’s been kind of hard for him to find a place where he can play. He’s really good at them, too, and Mickala said earlier, if it’s okay with you, he could play them here.”
Victor grinned. “Tell him to bring them on.” His stomach growled, and he looked at his watch. “Bloody hell! It’s already 8:30.” He stood up. “I know the two of you got up pretty early this morning, and I know I don’t really feel like cooking, so where do you want to go for dinner?”
“Outback?” Mickala suggested.
Victor nodded. “Sounds good to me. Just let me change clothes.”
A few minutes later, they were getting into the Jeep, and a CD began blaring. Aiden raised an eyebrow, more than surprised at hearing DMX. Victor laughed at his face. “She’s rubbed off on me. I used to hate rap, then I actually listened to it, and some of it isn’t so bad.”
“Now, he’s stealing my CDs apparently,” Mickala laughed. They pulled out of the driveway. “Oh, and I’ve got to go back to the feed store tomorrow.”
“I thought you bought for Adelaide before you went to Miami?” Victor asked.
“I did, but we’ve got another mouth to feed,” she said, grinning at Aiden. “There’s another Delling.”
“Wait. You have two now?”
She shook her head. “A stallion Connected with Aiden. His name is Titus.”
“That doesn’t happen often, does it? A Delling with a non-Solarian?”
She shook her head. “Once, and that was my grandfather.”
“It seems as if Aiden’s place in your life is being more and more cemented,” he said thoughtfully, and Mickala agreed, her eyes shining. Aiden couldn’t believe at how quickly he was picking up on what they’d been discussing before he’d even gotten home.
***
They went to the restaurant, and they got in a booth. They ordered, Mickala getting a Pina Colada, and Aiden got a Long Island Iced Tea, and they both stared hard at the server. He wrote it down with a dazed look, then walked away. Victor just laughed, then looked at Aiden. “How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking?” he asked, and the interest in his voice was impossible to miss.
“Of course I don’t mind. It just feels so strange, discussing all this so casually with a human. No offense,” he added. Victor laughed, waving him away. “I’m about nine hundred years old, give or take a decade.” He saw Victor’s eyes widen, but he shook his head. “I’m just a baby when compared to Mickala and Michelle.”
“And you’re going to high school with her?” Aiden nodded. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re the oldest senior I’ve ever seen.”
Aiden laughed. “I can make myself look younger.”
“Do what?”
He gave a small shrug. “Any mid-class demon can do it. See, our lifespans are so long, sometimes it’s necessary to make ourselves look younger to blend in, especially if we’re living with the humans. We can take ourselves all the way back to infancy if we need to. We can even make ourselves look older, but we have to have reached that age. Say, a young demon who’s only thirty or forty can’t make themselves look seventy. The bones don’t know where to go.”
“They can’t go where they’ve never been?”
“Exactly.” Aiden looked at Mickala. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask, but it keeps slipping my mind. You’ve been all those ages, but in different lives. Does being reborn effect that? Like you’re seventeen now, but could you still make yourself look older?”
She nodded. “Once I regain those memories, my bones remember where to go as well. As soon as I remembered, I could have made myself look like any age I wanted, but I knew I would’ve scared the hell out of Victor.”
“Can I see?” he asked.
They both closed their eyes, and the changes were so subtle, just a few slight shifts under the skin. When they opened their eyes again, though, Aiden looked about six years younger, well in line with other high school senior, and Mickala looked suddenly looked as if she was in her mid-twenties. After a few minutes, her face changed back, while Aiden’s stayed the same.
Victor shook his head. “I know what you are, but the things you’re capable of astound me, and they’re nothing for you two, like party tricks, I guess. I suppose that old saying is true. You learn something new every day, especially when you’re living with a demon or two.”
“Pretty much,” Mickala said. “It’s just part of who we are, like your blonde hair and being so smart at business.”
“Why are demons so evil?”
Aiden was dead serious as he shrugged. “Why are some humans so evil? The ones who like to rape, torture, and murder? Our bad exists just like yours. It’s just our evil ones have powers, and those powers are outside human comprehension. The best we can do is try to protect the humans, sort of like a demon police.”
“And you get hunted down for it,” Victor said.
“All the time. There’s an entire battle of good and evil humans don’t even know about. Most of them wouldn’t be able to handle it if they did. They’re so content in their
belief they’re the only intelligent beings in the universe, they don’t realize they have another species of being living right next door. Or, like Michelle and Mickala, a race from an entirely different planet who, if they were so inclined, could obliterate the entire world. Either of them alone could do it.”
Mickala looked down, but she could still feel Victor’s eyes on her. “Is that true?” he asked.
“Maybe, maybe not,” she replied with a shrug, but they heard the admission in her quiet voice.
Aiden grinned. “Thank God for Earth, they’re two of the best ‘good’ demons out there. They risk their lives to keep the planet safe.”
Victor raised his hand and ordered another round of drinks. “I think we need those after that conversation. So, what are you going to do in school?”
“Try not to kill everyone out of boredom,” he said deadpan. “You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve graduated.” He asked about colleges. “More than I can count. I’ve got degrees from some of the best universities in the world. I’ve gone to not just Harvard and Yale, but also schools in Paris, Rome, even London, China and Japan.”
“How many languages do you speak?” Victor asked, his eyes wide.
“I can speak all the major languages: French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and most of the minor ones. I’ve lived in just about every country except for some more extreme Middle Eastern regions, and on every continent except Antarctica. Penguins and polar bears aren’t very good companions. I’m sure Mickala could say the same thing. Maybe not in this life, but in several of them.”
“I bet,” Victor said with a laugh. “Our world must be so boring for you.”
“Boring is no bad thing. It’s better than constantly looking over our shoulder,” Mickala said. “Being boring is the major reason we choose to live in this world.”
“Is it really so dangerous?” She just nodded. “Wow.”
They finally finished eating, and Victor paid, then they headed home. “I’m headed up to take a shower,” Aiden said.
“Okay, I’ll be up in a bit,” Mickala said. He kissed the top of her head and told her to take her time. He went upstairs, and she made two cups of tea for her and Victor, and they sat at the bar island.
***
He looked at her, smiling. “He seems like a really good guy.”
Mickala grinned. “He is, Victor,” she replied, sipping at her tea. “It’s more than that, though. I know he’s the one made for me, and I’m the one made for him. I’m so happy with him, more than I’ve ever been with anyone in any of my lives.”
“I can tell. I see a light in your eyes I’ve never seen before. Not even when you were with EJ. From the way you spoke about Aiden on the phone, I imagined I would see that light back, but this is something else, a brilliance about you that seems to come from within,” Victor said. “You may be an all-powerful demon warrior princess, but you’re still my daughter in my eyes, so I worry about you. Aiden obviously feels the same way about you, and I’m so glad you met him. Even if it wasn’t all that other stuff, I would’ve liked him, anyway. He’s a right good bloke.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I remember the first time I laid eyes on you, the day you were born. It scared me to death to hold you, but Michelle assured me everything would be okay, and you looked at me with those big blue eyes, and you stole my heart. You still haven’t given it back. When I learned what you are, I think I loved you even more then. You were obviously more than capable of handling yourself, and yet, you still wanted to stay with me.”
“I love you, too, Victor,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it.
“How was Miami?”
“It was good. There were a couple of medium-sized hiccups, which I told you about this morning, but overall, I had a good time,” she said. “How was the meeting?”
“It was fine. We were considering opening up a hotel in LA and maybe another in New York.”
“Really?” He nodded, saying he had real estate agents scouting out for locations in the two cities. “You should. I think it would be a great idea.”
They were talking about something else, but she suddenly grew quiet, her head tilted to the side as if she was listening for something. “Are you okay?” he asked after she didn’t move for a few seconds.
She held a hand up, then they both heard a thump from overhead in Mickala’s room. She felt a sudden, familiar energy, and her blood ran cold, her lips pulling back in an unconscious snarl. Her face and the sounds coming from caused chill bumps to erupt all over Victor’s skin. “Stay here,” she said, her tone a command, something she’d never done with him before. She jumped from her seat, moving so fast upstairs she seemed to disappear. Victor waited for all of three seconds, then he ran upstairs behind her.
***
Mickala’s bedroom doors were closed, but she lowered her shoulder and slammed through them. Her fury increased exponentially as she saw Aiden sprawled out on the floor, a dark puddle under his head. By the time she processed the scene, she felt the energy again, followed by a nauseating order. The door closed behind her even as she spun around, and she saw Valez, a hideous grin on his ugly face. Before she had time to react, he slammed her to the floor, his face just inches from hers, his rancid breath choking her. Victor slammed the doors open, but froze at the sight of the creature that had Mickala pinned to the ground. Mickala gave him a mental shove out of the room, then placed a seal on the doors as he began banging on them. She kicked Valez off and flipped to her feet. She was in her demon form in less than two seconds, and Valez swung on her, not wasting any time on insults.
Mickala screamed for Aiden, but his fingers didn’t even twitch, and her anger spiked again. She hit Valez in the face and chest, then kicked him in the head in less than a second, and he went flying across the room. She didn’t even give him a chance to get back up before she jumped on him. A large, hard fist connected with her jaw, sending her reeling back, and he got to his feet, panting.
Ten
Angel Feathers and Demon Eyes
It was a hard fight, and she sent him through a sheetrock wall. He hit the floor, and several pieces fell on top of him. She went to Aiden, her wolf’s ears straining to catch any sound of Valez moving. “Please, wake up,” she said. “I can’t have found you just to lose you so soon.” She could barely hear his heart beating, then she heard Valez get to his feet.
She stood slowly, then turned around. Her eyes were glowing silver, and a bright four-cornered star, the mark of Solaris, pulsated from her forehead. Her energy began shooting up, but Valez couldn’t feel it, and he stood, smirking. He came for her, but he couldn’t lay a finger on her. A sudden, powerful burst of wind began blowing around the room, loose papers whipping around them. Her hair billowed around her, but he still didn’t feel what was going on inside her.
Large, white, angel-like wings unfurled behind her with an incredible ten- or eleven- foot span, and she lifted off the ground. Valez just watched her hover, then hissed menacingly before he jumped for her. Beam of light shot from her eyes and star, hitting him, and he let out a scream of rage and pain as he crashed to the ground. He fought his way against them, and she didn’t see him coming until his fist crashed directly into her temple. Her eyes went back to blue as they rolled back and she turned back to her human form, except for the wings and the star on her forehead.
She fell to the ground, and he kicked her hard in the side, bleeding from several wounds, and he was struggling to breathe. She smashed into the wall, her wings wrapping around her. He picked her up by her throat, and he held up an all too familiar blade, pulled out his shirt. “Die, bitch!” he snarled, his eyes wide. Victor had renewed his beating on the doors, and they quivered on their hinges.
The blade arced down, glinting in the bright light overhead, but his wrist stopped suddenly. He looked up in confusion, and there was a long, green vine wrapped around it, long, needle sharp thorns digging painfully into his skin when he tried to pull away. He reached
to rip it off, but another snaked around his other wrist, jerking hard. Mickala and the knife dropped to the ground.
***
Valez’s eyes followed the vines, and Aiden was in his fox form on one knee, blood soaking his silver hair from a large gash in his head. He wrapped the vines around his fists several times. He jerked them again, and Valez fell to his knees, his arms pulled out in front of him. “You’re the only one who’s going to die today, Valez,” he said. Muscles bulged in his arms as he pulled again, and the demon went down to his face. Ian appeared through Mickala’s rapidly fading seal, his sword out. The vines faded, and Aiden shakily got to his feet and pulled a small seed out of a pocket on the inside of his shirt. It opened with a crack, and a large plant with enormous purple flowers sprang forth, wrapping around his arm and making an odd purring sound. It continued to wrap around his chest and torso, long tendrils draping to the ground.
“Would you like to know how you’re going to die?” he asked, his golden eyes staring into Valez’s beady, hateful gaze. He couldn’t speak, and Aiden’s smiled widened, grew colder. “The thorns will get you first, although, since we’re far away from anyone, I may not use them. You see, they contain a toxin which specifically attacks the vocal cords, and I want to hear you scream, to hear you beg for death like the pathetic coward you are. Then, the flowers will move in. Their teeth are also toxic, and they’ll liquify you from the inside out. Bones, muscles, everything will become their food. There won’t be a single trace of you when it’s all over. You can move your precious organs around all you want, and it won’t make a damn bit of difference.”
Aiden tilted his head to the other side, his ears pricked. “Oh, and I forgot to tell you the best part, Valez. You’ll be alive the whole time. You want to know why? Because those organs you like to move around so much. They’re the plant’s favorite part, so it saves them for last. You’ll be able to feel as every bone turns to liquid, every muscle as it turns to mush.”
Releasing the Demons: Solarian Chronicles II Page 9