by Trina M. Lee
“Don’t get your hopes up, Koda. I’m not going to abandon Rowen.” I dismissed his threat with a shrug, refusing to let him of all people get to me. “I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me what Arrow is up to in there.”
A glare that promised terrible things marred his face. He grabbed me roughly by the arm, holding tight when I tried to jerk away. “Even better,” he said slyly. “I’ll show you.”
Chapter Twelve
My protests went unheard as Koda dragged me over to the gate. After punching a code into the security box next to the intercom, the gate swung open for him. I was unable to get a look at the code but found it interesting that Arrow had called for permission.
Perhaps I should have been scared. I mean, demons were friggin’ scary, but Koda’s presence kept me calm. There was no way I would let him have the satisfaction of being the one to frighten me. Those days were long over.
The house was big, small mansion big. Large white pillars bordered the front door. I debated whether I should let Koda take me inside or go for my dagger. Arrow sure wasn’t worth dying for.
I was about to reach for the dagger when Koda said, “Relax, Spike. Nobody will hurt you. Not as long as you’re with me.”
I really didn’t like what he was implying. With the nastiest glower I could pull together, I spoke through clenched teeth. “I don’t belong to you. I never will. Get that through your head.”
“Well if you want to leave here alive, then you’d better just shut up. If you say something like that in here, there will be a battle for you. And no matter who wins, you’ll lose.”
No way in hell was I making the mistake of trusting Koda. So much for being stealthy. Now Arrow would know I had been following him. I sucked at this.
Koda pushed through the door, dragging me along beside him. The smell of sulfur was so thick I coughed. He rolled his red eyes at me and continued on through the large foyer, behind the spiral staircase, and down a hallway to a set of elaborate double doors.
When the doors opened they revealed what appeared to be a throne room of sorts, and fear slipped in to claim me. Koda shoved me along in front of him, and I struggled to keep my footing.
The room was vast with high windows and smooth, hardwood floors. A row of throne-like chairs stood at the far end, the center one seeming to command the entire room. Koda pushed me on through the room, into the middle where a group of demons stood gathered around a pentagram sunk into a circle in the middle of the room. The place virtually hummed with demon magic. I swallowed hard, knowing there was something bad going on here.
Koda dragged me forward, loudly announcing, “Look what I found lurking around outside.”
I froze as the gaze of half a dozen demons landed on me. They all stood around the large pentagram etched into the sunken pit. Arrow stood among them, his expression unreadable though there was surprise in his eyes. What struck fear into the depths of my heart though was what was happening in the center of the demon circle.
A demon with dark hair and black eyes held a rooster by the legs. The head was missing. Blood dripped from the neck. The dark-red drops landed in the center of the circle where a hazy smoke slowly began to rise. The demon ran a finger through the blood before turning to a woman beside him and tracing a symbol on her forehead with it. She was the only human present, a black magic witch most likely.
Without looking at Koda the demon said, “Why did you bring that nephilim in here? She’s a white lighter.”
“Barely,” Arrow muttered with a smirk, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He shrugged and eyed me maliciously.
“No, I’m not. I’m undecided.” My desperate claim went ignored. They didn’t care. All that mattered to them was that I wasn’t dark.
“She wanted to know what was going on in here,” Koda said as if that were reason enough. “So I decided to show her.”
The demon holding the rooster frowned. He did look at Koda this time, but it was with a subdued expression that told me he was inferior to the red-eyed Koda. “And what were you hoping to prove by doing that?”
Only one other red-eyed demon stood around the circle. I’d noticed that eye color was an indicator of their place in the hierarchy. Black-eyed demons were level three, while red-eyed demons were level two. It was near unheard of for level one angels to become demons so they were few and far between. I’d never seen one.
Koda stood tall, his chest puffed out as if offended that anyone dared to question him. “I wanted her to see what happens if she chooses the wrong side.”
“Good luck with that.” Again Arrow shot me a snide look to go along with his smartass remark. He was enjoying this, and my loathing for him grew.
“Well,” said the red-eyed demon standing next to Arrow. “Now that you’ve interrupted the ritual for your own personal amusement, finish it off and kill her.”
Wait, what? “Excuse me?” I spoke up, ignoring Koda when he shook me. “Kill me? I don’t even know what’s going on here.”
“And you never will.” The red-eyed demon studied me, an eyebrow raised as he assessed me and seemed to find me lacking. He wore the form of a thirty-something man with smooth, tanned skin.
I yelled, “Koda!” Despite the tight hold he had on me, I fought to break free of him. “You are fucking scum, you know that? I can’t believe your ego is so fucking fragile that you have to threaten my life to prove yourself.”
A titter of laughter rippled through the demons. The human woman was not amused in the slightest. She glared at me as if she’d happily kill me herself. Whatever we’d interrupted, it had been important to her.
“Dash, it’s fine, really,” Koda said, addressing the one with the scarlet gaze. “Spike is here as my guest. I want her to see why she should never underestimate us.”
Dash didn’t look convinced. He glared first at me, then Koda. Tension thrummed between the two of them that made the rest of the group stiffen. Perhaps they would fight. It might be my only hope for escape unless Cinder decided to drop in on me.
“We don’t have white lighters dropping in for visits, Koda.” Dash spoke between clenched teeth. “She may be undecided, but she’s been working for the light. White lighters are not welcome here. Not even a half-breed like her.”
Arrow frowned and pressed his lips together into a thin line. He stood stiffly, his shoulders squared. I found satisfaction in the half-breed remark because it got under his skin. I could see it picking at him.
“Can we please get back to my wedding?” The raven-tressed woman suddenly shouted, her voice high and shrill.
Wedding? Taking a closer look at her, I saw that she was indeed wearing a gown. It was black with a cinched waist and long, flowing skirt. The black-eyed demon who had smeared blood on her face held tight to her hand, making it evident that they were the happy couple. So to speak.
This was the worst wedding I’d ever been to. And I’d attended a few doozies. I couldn’t imagine why a woman would want to wed herself to a demon, but she was a witch, thus not someone I could relate to.
“Hush a moment, Skylar,” Dash admonished with a scowl. Then he glided over to me, his feet barely touching the floor. He got unbearably close, openly sniffing me like I was under inspection. “Who is your father, girl?”
I recoiled, leaning as far away from him as I could get. With Koda at my back, it didn’t give me much room, but something told me that Dash was the greater evil of the two of them. It may have been the slither in his step or the oily tone of his voice. But more than likely it was the deep abyss of black that seemed to surround him like a second skin. I could feel it all over him, reaching for me.
“I don’t know,” I lied. There was no way in hell I was giving my father’s name to a room full of demons. Not even Koda knew for sure who my father was. They already knew who Rowen’s father was, and look how well that was working out for him and Arrow.
“Don’t lie to me.” His face frightfully blank, Dash reached out to touch me, and I jerked back. A small sm
ile creased his sharp, angular face. “He was a fool to let you live. One so rare as you would have been better off never having been born.”
A warm but clammy hand touched my face, and I muffled a shriek. My fingers tingled, and a bolt of fire leaped between us. It didn’t last long, just seconds, but when it burnt out, Dash was furious.
“You dare to offend me in my own house?” He shouted, grabbing hold of me and snarling into my face.
Koda shoved him off me, getting between us. With both hands on Dash’s collar, Koda growled, “This isn’t your house, Dash. And Spike isn’t anything to you. Back the fuck off.”
“It’s the house of my queen who I will serve until the end of time. In her absence, it is mine. Unless you’d like to contest that.”
“Maybe I would. She’s my queen too.”
The two demons engaged in a silent war, each trying to intimidate the other into submission. We all watched them, everyone but Skylar, who glared at me. I hadn’t ruined her wedding day—that had been Koda—but she didn’t seem to see it that way.
“Be careful, Dash,” Koda said, low and menacing. “If you keep on like this you’re going to end up like Shya. A washed up has-been consumed by obsession.”
This earned a snicker from a few of those present though I had no idea what they were talking about. I didn’t need to know. I’d heard and seen enough.
“Never again speak to me of Shya. I’m not fool enough to think I can rule in Lilah’s stead. I mean only to honor her empire in her absence, not to claim it.” Dash vibrated with rage. His voice was calm and controlled, which made him that much more terrifying.
An angry scream rang out, ear shattering in its intensity. I covered my ears and winced. Only Arrow did the same. The demons stared at Skylar, who had clearly had enough. She stood there with palms up and eyes rolled back in her head so only the whites showed. A jumble of Latin rolled off her tongue, and a spell immediately began to take shape.
Her demon fiancé clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her, but it was too late. The spell hit me right in the chest, choking off my breath as it sought to get inside me. The crazy witch had thrown a curse at me.
As a witch, she was only a conduit of the power she had called. It didn’t come from within her but from elsewhere. My power, meager next to these demons, was greater than what a human could handle. I gasped in relief when her curse fell away, unable to overcome the angelic essence inside me.
Retaliating wasn’t an option. She was a human, caught up by the dark, a puppet of sorts. She didn’t know any better. It was incredibly sad really.
Skylar’s fiancé pulled her tight to him, pinning her arms down at her sides. He whispered something in her ear, but she only struggled harder.
“This is my goddamn wedding day,” she hissed in his face. “I said I’d give up everything for you, but you can’t even give me a decent wedding?”
The woman had a point. This was shittier than a cheap Vegas wedding performed by Elvis.
“I want her to be the sacrifice.” Skylar pointed at me, nostrils flared. “Fuck the rooster.”
Dash looked at me like I was a fish on a hook. Eyes glittering with evil glee, he nodded. “As you wish, Skylar. It is your special day, after all. Now calm down. It’s not good to get so worked up. Your magic is erratic enough.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Koda flared his wings in an unspoken threat. “Do you have any idea how valuable Spike is?”
I frowned, not liking the way this was going. Feeling eyes upon me, I looked over to find Arrow staring thoughtfully at me. Just looking at his smug face made me seethe. If I got out of this alive, I was going to rip him a new one.
“Valuable to you maybe,” Dash sneered. “She means nothing to me. I have no use for more nephilim, regardless of gender. Her rarity might make her a worthy sacrifice.” He seemed to ponder this, coming to an even worse conclusion. “Actually, maybe I’ll use her as my own sacrifice.”
My palms were slick with sweat. For the most part, demons didn’t show a lot of interest in me. Every now and then I’d run into one like Koda who wanted to see what I was made of, but usually they treated me like they would any undecided nephilim, like a pain in their ass.
Arrow cleared his throat and raised a hand for attention. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. You see Spike here, she and I are sleeping together. I wasn’t going to say anything because it wasn’t relevant. But it does mean that no harm can come to her by this coven.”
Dash looked back and forth between Arrow and me. Lips pursed, he regarded us with heavy scrutiny. If anyone was going to blow the lie, it was me. The thought of touching Arrow made me ill, but for some reason he was trying to help me. I decided against making it hard for him.
“You expect me to believe that a white lighter lets you touch her?” Dash gave a bark of laughter, ignoring me when I again insisted I wasn’t light. He tried to push by Koda to approach me again, but Koda held him back.
With a shake of his head, Dash fixed his gaze on Arrow. “I don’t know why you’d want to help her, but I know you’re lying.”
“I’m not though,” Arrow said quickly, sticking a hand into his pocket. “Look, I have proof.”
I cringed, knowing he was going to show them that damn photo. Somehow I was still hopeful when he held his phone out so everyone could clearly see the picture of me in my underwear.
“This is Spike in my bed after a show we both played. Why else would she be there if we weren’t screwing?” Arrow was so calm and convincing that I almost believed it myself. “She followed me here tonight. It’s my fault. Not hers. I should’ve known better.”
Dash stared at the photo. He didn’t look entirely convinced, but he couldn’t argue against the sight of me in my undies passed out in Arrow’s bed. “Yes, you should have. Get her out of here. I’ll deal with you later.” Turning on Koda with a black orb spinning in his palm, he said, “We are going to finish this wedding, and then you and I are going to talk about our priorities.”
Koda’s face darkened with unspoken promises of violence. “Count on it.”
Neither of them looked at me again as Arrow grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room. Skylar burst into angry tears, and voices rose in argument as we fled. We paused only long enough to hit the gate button on the intercom system inside the door.
Arrow didn’t say a word until we had exited the house. Once we were outside the gate, he pulled me around to face him.
“Why were you following me?” He hissed, anger causing his aura to buzz like he was consumed by bees. “You could’ve been killed in there, Spike. All because you were sent to tail me. What kind of guardian sends his charge on a suicide mission?”
“Ow,” I muttered through clenched teeth. I glared at him. He held tight to my upper arm, refusing to let go. “Cinder isn’t my guardian. He’s a friend.”
“Why did he tell you to follow me?” Arrow shook me until I yelped. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
His hand was like a vice around my arm, squeezing until my fingers began to tingle from numbness. Fury surrounded him like a storm cloud, raining all over both of us. I was angry too.
“I was following you so I could find out why you’re trying so hard to keep me away from Rowen. He doesn’t deserve to turn out like you.” Honesty usually was the best policy. In this case I wasn’t so sure, but I was above lying to Arrow. “Now will you please let go of me? I can’t feel my fingers.”
Arrow released me suddenly, as if he hadn’t realized he’d been hurting me. His pupils dilated dangerously as negative emotions ruled him. I wasn’t sure what he was capable of, and I wasn’t too keen on finding out just yet.
“You just risked your life because of Rowen?” He asked in disbelief. “That is fucking stupid.”
“And you just risked something too by helping me out, didn’t you? What was that all about?”
With a snort of derision, Arrow spun on a booted heel and stalked off down the street toward my car. He p
ulled a pack of cigarettes from a pocket and stuck one between his lips. I followed along, surprised when he stopped at my car and leaned against the side.
A plume of smoke rose up as he eyed me, uncertainty heavy in his hazel gaze. “I do have some empathy you know, Spike. I may be dark, but I’m still half human.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I muttered. When he glowered I held up a hand in surrender. “Thank you for getting me out of there. But you can’t blame me for thinking the worst of you. You used your blackmail material to convince a bunch of demons we’re fucking. I can’t help but think that was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, well you’re out here now instead of in there, so you’re welcome. Don’t ever say I can’t be a nice guy.”
I choked on a laugh. “Good one. I saw you accept a blowjob as payment for someone’s drug habit an hour ago. Whatever you are, you are not a nice guy. Why were you in there anyway?”
I plucked the cigarette from between his fingers and took a long drag. Son of a bitch, why did bad things feel so damn good?
“I don’t force anyone to do anything. Free will, baby.” He produced a joint and sparked it up, offering it to me after taking a drag. “I brought the rooster.”
“No thanks. I don’t smoke when I’m driving.” It wasn’t lost on me that he had just done the same thing to me as he’d done back at The Spirit Room, only on a much smaller scale. “I’m also not going to suck you off as a thank you either.”
A scowl marred his face. Dark smudges beneath his eyes gave him a ghost-like appearance. His shoulder-length, black hair peeked out from beneath the knit cap he often wore. To look at either of us, you’d never guess we were anything but a couple of dirty rockers. Looks were so deceiving.
“You know, Spike, I actually kind of like you. You’re a ballsy chick, and you play guitar like a fucking madwoman. It’s beautiful really. But being pals with the light makes you the enemy, and I can’t forget that. I don’t want to see bad shit happen to you, but you have to stay away from Rowen.”