The safe zone, named that way not because it was safe for the inhabitants but rather it made sure nephilim and humans didn’t mix, was a government run reservation, not unlike the urban ghettos cambions were banished to.
It was nicer but still a prison.
“Unless they killed him,” Wes muttered.
I shuddered. It was still considered murder to kill a half-breed. Apparently, our human side has rights. But sentinels tend to be holier than thou assholes. A few dead non-humans didn’t raise eyebrows.
“Has Damian talked to the kid’s friends?”
“Probably. He does know what he’s doing. If the boy isn’t dead, he’ll find him.” He paused. “And if he is dead, Damian will bring closure to his family.”
Wes always assumed the worst would happen. A product of the way he grew up. When beatings and rape were everyday occurrences, one tended to have a sour outlook on life.
I laid my head on his arm and sighed. “I think I hate Elena’s new boyfriend.”
“That’s a problem?”
As much as I would rather not dump my problems on Wes, I needed to expel my conflicting thoughts. Maybe he’d have some insight.
“No. I mean yes.” I groaned. “I don’t know.”
“You like him.”
It wasn’t a question. The words came out flat, no emotion behind them. He held back, giving me the space to spill in my own time.
“Maybe. It’s wrong, I know.”
“Wrong that you both like this boy?”
I nodded. “She’s my best friend. Besides what guy would choose me instead of her?”
“Holy low self-esteem, girl. You’re far from an ogre.”
“Next to her I make Shrek look like a prince.”
Wes lifted my chin, forcing me to look in his bright blue eyes. “Elena may be beautiful, but so are you. It’s not her looks that draw attention away from you.”
“Then what?”
“You’re colder than a dead fish.”
That’s Wes in a nutshell. One second he’s all complimentary, and I think for a moment that maybe he sees me as something more than a kid sister. The next he’s digging the knife in my heart.
“You’re an asshole.”
“You hide behind sarcasm and disinterest because you’re afraid of getting hurt. You can hide behind the delusion that you’re undesirable, but the truth is you push everyone away.”
Yeah, telling Wes had been a mistake. “Says the guy who has never had a meaningful relationship.”
He laughed. “I did say I didn’t want you to make my mistakes.”
“Why do you push people away? Fear?”
“No.” He looked off into the distance, wistfully. “I’m just not going to settle for anything less than the best.”
“How are you going to know if someone is right if you don’t give them a chance?”
“I know what I want, Lex.” He looked back at me. “It’s getting it that is the problem.”
“I don’t know what I want. That’s my problem.” I sighed again.
I knew how Wes would react to the fact Lucas was a nephilim which is why I kept my mouth shut about that little fact.
If Lucas had been human would I be feeling this way? Or was it his otherness, that connection that pulled us together, the culprit of these unwanted feelings? Did I want to hurt Elena, risk our friendship, for a guy I wouldn’t even be interested in otherwise?
I didn’t like that part of my body screaming yes.
“Don’t look so glum,” Wes said, interrupting my thoughts. “It’s high school. In a few months, you won’t even remember this guy.”
“So I should just ignore my irrational hormones?”
My phone rang before he could respond.
I didn’t even get to say hello before Elena’s strained voice harshly cut through my soul. “He dumped me. Thanks a lot, friend.”
A bucket of ice water would have chilled me less.
“Lanie, I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do…”
Nothing but silence on the other end.
“Hello?”
Great. Could my week get any worse?
Chapter 10
My first order of business when I got to school the next morning was to find Lucas and beat some sense into him.
Elena had ignored all fifty of my phone calls, both from last night and this morning. I had to make this right somehow. If that meant giving the nephilim a bloody nose, so be it.
I felt him before I saw him, his distinctive, familiar aura like a comforting cup of hot chocolate in front of the fireplace during a blizzard. Not the kind you get out of a box. The real shit that requires stirring on the stove.
Playing a game of Marco Polo with his angelic pull, I spotted him leaning against my locker. He was brooding like an angsty vampire from an Anne Rice novel.
I stopped before he could see me, paralyzed with indecision. I’d rehearsed my words on the bus ride to school. I’d be cool, calm, and straight to business.
Standing there the words fled from my mind, leaving me feeling like a complete idiot. What good would confronting him do? Was I supposed to convince him to beg Elena for a second chance? The damage was already done.
Hormones won out over logic. I needed someone to take my frustration out on. Since he was the reason for my anger, it only made sense I unleash my wrath on his scrawny ass.
I marched over to him, screwing my face into a mask of false confidence. I wouldn’t let him see how he affected me. I wouldn’t give him the power.
He saw me and had the good sense to look afraid. I grabbed him by the sleeve of his powder blue polo and pulled him into the boy’s bathroom a few feet away. No use in making a scene.
As soon as the door closed behind me, I let loose a torrent of expletives that would have made a sailor blush. I’m not sure I was coherent.
“Lex, stop,” he said between my breaths. “Don’t make this about you when it isn’t.”
I planted my hands on my hips and glared. “Oh really? It’s just a coincidence that after your spiel about getting to know me better you dump my best friend?”
He gave me a condescending smile. “I think you misunderstood our conversation, Lex. I only want to be your friend.”
Well, then. Just throw me into a hole straight down to hell.
His disinterest in me didn’t explain his one eighty with Elena. “You seemed very into her so what changed?”
Someone threw open the door behind me and strolled in. I turned my Medusa stare at the intruder, turning him into stone.
Figuratively.
“You should probably find another bathroom. This one is occupied,” Lucas said, amusement lacing his voice.
He was laughing at me. Two more seconds of his arrogant ass and I’d be throwing punches.
“Uh, yeah.” The guy backed slowly out of the bathroom.
“She thinks it’s my fault. What did you say to her?”
One of the stalls opened and a guy I recognized from pre-calculus whose name I didn’t remember headed toward the sink. He avoided looking in my direction.
“You got to be kidding me,” I said.
“Bathrooms are high traffic areas. Probably should have picked someplace more private to berate me,” Lucas said, still smiling like this was all a joke.
It probably was to him.
We waited in silence for the guy to leave. He took his sweet ass time, too. Probably wanted to hear more of the drama. I’m sure by lunchtime the story would have spread, and people would be coming up to ask me where I hid the body.
Lucas peeked under the stalls. Once he was satisfied we were alone, he walked up to me, towering over me. I was eye level with his chest. Which was fine with me. I didn’t want to look at his stupid face.
“Before you pop a blood vessel, let me explain,” he said.
I hated him. I hated him so bad.
“I like Elena. She’s great. Funny, smart. Sexy as hell.”
The more he talked, the worse I
felt. This had been a mistake. Next time I needed a punching bag, I’d go to the gym.
“She’s human, though,” he continued. “There’s no future there. Better to end it now before feelings develop.”
“Before? She already had feelings, you jerk.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I bet she’s more upset about the rejection than about me. She’s the kind of girl who doesn’t hear the word no often.”
I bristled at his judgemental words about my friend. “You don’t know her at all.”
“Exactly my point. I don’t know her. She doesn’t know me.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “She would never know me, not really.”
“Then why did you bother? You led her on.”
“The same reason you do.”
I scoffed. “I don’t lead her on. It isn’t like that.”
He smiled softly. “Why is it so important to you what she thinks? If she knew what you were, she would probably turn you in. That’s not a friendship.”
He put my fears into words. Elena had never hidden her disgust with my kind. She had once said we should have been shot instead of allowed to live in peace.
I didn’t blame her for her bigotry. Her dad was a sentinel. She had been raised to believe that shit.
“You know nothing, Lucas Zane.”
“Really?” He inched closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. “You want to feel like you belong, like you fit in their world.”
My heart hammered in my chest at his proximity. He might not want me, but I wanted him. Asshole or not.
“But it’s a lie. You’ll never be like them. They’ll never accept you.” He smiled softly. “I was the same way. Desperate to feel normal, to be accepted.”
“Was?”
“Then I met you. I don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not anymore.”
“I told you. I’m not interested in being your token preternatural friend.”
He sighed and turned away. “Why are you so freaking stubborn?”
“I’m sorry I’m not some clay you can mold into the perfect bestie. I’ve got agency, thank you very much.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “What do you want, Lex?”
The shrill ringing announcing the start of first period saved me from having to answer.
“Time for class,” I said and turned to go out the door.
He moved to block me from the exit. “We aren’t done.”
“I say we are. Get out of my way.”
I clenched my hand into a fist. Damian would be so pissed if I got expelled for breaking Lucas’ nose.
Lucas shuffled his feet, looking suddenly uncomfortable. “I wasn’t entirely honest with you earlier.”
I wish I could say that I didn’t give a crap about whatever he had to say but despite wanting to get as far from him as possible, my curiosity got the best of me. “About what?”
My phone rang before he could answer.
I was tired of all these interruptions.
“What?” I barked into the phone.
“Is this Lex?” The flesh on my arms prickled with goosebumps. The voice on the other end sounded terrified.
“Who’s this?”
“I know where Terrance is.”
It must have been Lilly on the other end.
“Where?”
Something was off. If she’d found her boyfriend, why did she sound so panicked?
“I couldn’t get him out. Oh, gods, I left him there.”
She sounded on the brink of hysteria.
“Calm down and talk to me.”
She sobbed. “He’s going to kill me. If he finds me, he’ll kill me.”
Was Terrance going to kill her? She wasn’t making sense.
“Who? What’s going on?”
“Please. I don’t know where else to turn.”
“Where are you?”
She started to give me an address, but I had nothing to write it down on.
“Hold on,” I said, resting the phone against my shoulder as I dug through my bag for a pen.
I pulled out the pen I’d driven through the back of the demon’s neck. Splotches of dried black goo-stained it. I grabbed Lucas’ hand. “Repeat that.”
I jotted down the address. “Hold on. We’ll be right there.”
“Hurry.”
She still hadn’t told me who she was afraid of. Before I could ask again, she hung up.
“We?” Lucas asked while I put my phone away.
“You’ve got your car here?”
He nodded.
“Good. You want to be friends? I need a ride.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Is this going to be a relationship where all you do is take, take, take?”
“We’ll discuss what I can give you later.”
He gave me a sexy grin. “I can think of a few things.”
I rolled my eyes and went for the door. Now wasn’t the time to overanalyze his meaningless flirting. I had more important matters to attend to.
Like solving the case and proving to Damian he needed me as much as I needed him.
Chapter 11
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Lucas asked as he sped down the freeway.
I’d been tight-lipped since getting into his car twenty minutes ago, my mind too full of Lilly’s urgent phone call to answer any of his questions.
A lot can happen in twenty minutes.
“Drive faster,” I said, staring at the cars zooming past us.
“I’m not risking a ticket until you tell me why.”
I sighed. “I’m helping my brother with a case. A missing boy.”
“Was that who was on the phone?”
“It was the boy’s girlfriend. She said she knew where he was but something was wrong.”
“Is she in danger?”
“It sounded like it.”
He pressed on the gas pedal. We lurched forward.
We drove in silence for another ten minutes before an idea popped into my head.
“Do you know a Terrance Smith by any chance?” I asked.
“Should I?”
“He’s a nephilim in the area. Thought maybe you guys keep up with each other or something.”
“It’s not like we get together for play dates.” He paused. “My dad might know. He has connections.”
“Why keep yourself separate from your kind?”
He scoffed. I think I had offended him, but I had no idea why.
“Do you have monthly cambion conventions?”
“My situation is different.”
“How so?”
“My brother is a nephilim.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I hadn’t meant to tell him that.
“How does that work?”
“Our mom was human.”
“Was? She died?”
He had a problem with tact, as in he had none.
I stared out the window. “She left.”
“Why?”
Was he serious? I turned to look at him. His eyes were on the road, thankfully. Studying his profile, I noticed a faint scar by his right ear. I didn’t ask even though I wanted to know. Didn’t want him to think I cared or something.
“Maybe I should call her and ask.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
He did look sorry. He may have been coming across as an insensitive ass, but it looked like his intentions were in the right place. Maybe he did just want to get to know me.
Too bad I wasn’t interested.
“You’re atrocious at small talk.”
“Not normally.”
I scoffed. “Could have fooled me. Almost everything that’s come out of your mouth has been offensive or insensitive.”
“Asking to be friends is offensive?”
“Don’t be obtuse. You know what I mean.”
“Obtuse?” He chuckled. “You make me nervous.”
Interesting. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Maybe I care
what you think.”
“Why would you?”
He cleared his throat. “What’s the address again?”
While I hadn’t been paying attention, we’d pulled into a housing development.
Pretty, expensive houses stood all in a row. Perfectly manicured lawns, spotless streets, quiet as the dead. This was a place where façade ruled. Appearances were everything. Any whiff of scandal was pounced on by starving hyenas.
It was the closest to Sheol you would find on Earth.
I read off the address and searched for the right numbers on the side of the giant houses.
“It’s here,” I said, pointing to the last house on the left.
“Should I pull into the driveway?” he asked.
“Just stop the damn car and let me out.”
He slowed but didn’t stop, guiding his car down the long driveway.
I tapped my foot, butterflies in my gut doing a tango that had nothing to do with Lucas. Now that I thought about it, Lucas’ aura hadn’t had the same effect that it usually did. I barely even noticed it.
Maybe that meant I was getting used to having him around.
Not a good thing.
As soon as he put the car in park, I bounded out the door and raced to the front stoop of the three-story house. It had white siding with chocolate trim and a four car garage. I bet you would have found a vintage inside. Rich people love useless cars.
I tried the door. Unsurprisingly it was locked. I took a long pin from my hair. It wasn’t as good as my lock picks, but it was all I had on me. It wasn’t like I had expected to be breaking and entering when I left the house.
I knelt down. Before I could even get the end into the lock, Lucas told me to stop.
“It’s the middle of the day. Someone is going to see you and call the cops.”
“You have a better idea?”
“Did you try knocking?”
I hadn’t. I pounded my fist against the door and waited.
Nothing.
“Any more brilliant ideas?” I asked.
I walked off before he could say anything, going around to the back. In a house this size, she probably couldn’t even hear the knocking. At least that’s what I hoped.
Lucas jogged to catch up to me. “If there is danger, we should stick together.”
“Have you ever even been in a fight?”
Nephilim Falling (Trenton Investigations) Page 6