“Yes!” I told him honestly. “It’s nothing like I imagined, but in a way, it’s even better.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“What happened after you left?”
He breathed a nervous exhale in response. “There was another trial. Not like yours,” he assured me when he saw the panic in my eyes. “But a trial nonetheless — Ezekiel had been gunning for me for years. He jumped at the opportunity when I gave him one.”
“They put you on trial?” I gasped.
Caleb paused for a moment and looked away from me. “No, I put me on trial.”
“When?”
“That same night Elyse died. Maya tried to calm me down, but Ezekiel and I had at it, then everything went downhill.”
“Who’s Ezekiel?”
“You saw him in the Grove, he’s one of the Elders. Anyways, we started screaming at each other. He’s not in charge of the Guardians, though. That’s Michael’s job, so he didn’t have the right to punish me.”
“Wait, how do they … punish you?”
“For minor infractions, its different, but they were convinced I abused the role appointed me to garnish favor on the other side. They knew you and I had feelings for one another, and brought that up as evidence I’d been seduced by darker power — it’s a serious accusation. In that case, they sent me to the only location able to rehabilitate an angel, Verdovis. It’s a fortress made entirely out of ice in the farthest reaches of the globe. There’s hardly any sunlight and you’re left alone for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Less fortunate inmates go mad from sensory deprivation and beg for them to end it. Your memory is drained, and you get to start over. It’s your penance,” he spat out bitterly. “They don’t view mortal life as a gift, they view it as a punishment … at least most of them do. Once you’re demoted, they rip off your wings and they send you down here to ‘shake it off’. The goal being, of course, you’ll learn your lesson and come crawling back to them for forgiveness, having learned the ‘error of your ways’. Ezekiel didn’t realize coming here is exactly what I wanted. I didn’t wait for the cold and loneliness to drive me mad. I demanded they do it immediately. Maya was near hysterical at the time, she had to be escorted out. That was the last time I saw her,” he told me dismally.
“I can’t believe they did that to you.”
He smiled at me and tried to alleviate the awkward tension that had arisen from his story. “We don’t have to talk about it. I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.”
I bit my lip, trying not to reveal my obvious pleasure in that being the case. “So, what happens now?”
“Now, I take you home,” he whispered a little sadly. “It’s been a long day, and I have to wake up early for the crew, but I can call you tomorrow.”
I smiled at him and said, “You better.”
Caleb responded by taking me by the hand again and leading me back outside, pausing beside a large gray truck with a company logo. “Well, I could walk you back,” he offered, “or I could drive you.”
I nodded in agreement as he opened the door for me. It was different from Ryan’s Buick, and cleaner, with leather seats and a walkie-talkie that had been clipped onto the console. It was also different having Caleb climb into the driver’s seat — that was not an experience I expected. To my relief, however, I found he was both cautious and capable behind the wheel. Even so, I gripped the arm rest, haunted by the memories of my accident and breathed in deeply through my nose.
Thankfully, Caleb didn’t notice as he drove the few blocks back to Riverside and parked in the lot across the street. I found myself blushing as we idled there in silence before I turned to him and said, “I can’t invite you up. Lacey’s home, and I haven’t really told her about you yet.”
Caleb smiled and let out a contented sigh. “I didn’t expect you to. At least now you know how to find me, and that I’m here to be found. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Then goodnight.”
Caleb kissed me on the cheek again, and as he pulled away, I met his lips with mine. I’d never get used to kissing him, there was nothing else quite like it. When we stopped, my breath was ragged. I laughed self-consciously as I climbed out of the cab.
Oh, that boy knows how to kiss, I smiled to myself.
There were butterflies in my stomach as I watched him drive away. My thoughts eventually caught up with me and I shuffled over to the building and let myself inside, heading over to the stairwell. I was giddy and confused, not knowing what to think of this new aspect of our relationship.
Taking the stairs helped purge my body of the residual adrenaline and bring me back to normal. I was exhausted by the third floor, but it was worth it. I let out a contented sigh and pulled out one of my keys to open the door to my apartment.
Lacey was sitting on the couch watching Netflix on her computer when I came inside. She was wearing a loose t-shirt and jeans with her hair let down in a cotton headband, seeming completely relaxed and comfortable. When she heard the door open, she looked up at me and smiled. “Hey, Wynn! Glad your back. How are things?”
“Good! Really good,” I responded dreamily.
Her blue eyes widened at this admission as she closed the laptop, following me down the hall towards my room. “Yes, I can see that!” she agreed, when she saw the smile on my face. “What’s going on?”
“I just ran into an old friend. I’ll tell you about it later. Right now I need to take a shower — a cold shower.”
“An old friend, huh? What’s his name?” she asked me knowingly.
My blushing flared again when I responded, “Caleb.”
“Oh … I see. When do I get to meet him?”
I scratched my head and laughed nervously, getting my shower caddy from my room. “Soon, I think. It’s hard to tell. We haven't solidified what we are — only thing I know is that we had an epic kiss — now I don't know what to think.”
“I’m pretty sure that means he likes you!” she teased me playfully. “But I understand if things are complicated, just don’t keep me in the dark forever.”
I called out to her as she was leaving and beckoned for her to come back. “Hey, before I forget; now that your mom’s away, I was hoping we could talk … and maybe set up some ground rules for the apartment?”
Lacey turned and raised an eyebrow at me confused, flipping her long black hair across her shoulder. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”
I scratched my head and set the shower caddy back down on the bed. “Well, we haven’t talked about what you saw, and now that we’re living together it’s bound to come up sooner than later. If one of us can turn into a demonic, human-lizard hybrid, that probably warrants a discussion.”
Lacey left prom with me that night as I went to find Elyse. She heard me arguing with Caleb as he helped her soul cross over to the other side, then found me in the midst of my battle with Sathanus in full demon mode. The glamor was off at the time, so she saw the scales and wings, my taloned hands … everything. I was a monster in every sense of the word, but she took it all in stride.
She sat down on the couch and sighed. “Ah … that. I was wondering when it would come up again.”
“There aren’t many people who know about me,” I told her honestly. “I need to know if I can trust you.”
Lacey smiled encouragingly. “Of course, you can.”
“You weren’t afraid of me?” I asked her quietly.
“Why would I be afraid of you? Anytime you’ve been around and miraculous things have happened it usually turns out for the better. You saved those people in the theater when the beam came down, then you tried to protect your sister, your instincts have always been used for good. I trust you.”
“Wow … thanks, Lacey.”
She cleared her throat, crossing her arms against her chest and said, “Okay, I know you’re a demon. Is that going to affect our living arrangement?”
“No…?” I didn’t sound sure of myself, and I wasn’t
feeling very confident either. “But maybe we should keep the door locked, just in case. Sometimes the glamor wears off when I am sleeping, and that could turn into an incredibly awkward situation.”
She nodded vigorously. “Agreed. That’s completely understandable.”
I thought back to the hospital and how calm she was after seeing me transform. “You’re not the only one with a dark secret,” is what she said.
“Most people would run screaming in the other direction after what you’ve seen, not sign a rental agreement. What gives?”
Her lip twitched slightly as she contemplated that. “I don’t like Cilantro. Mom puts it on everything, and I pretend to enjoy it, but I don’t.”
I laughed and took a seat beside her on the couch. “Seriously! There must be something you’re not telling me.”
Lacey clicked her tongue, searching for the words and asked, “Are you familiar with Joan of Arc?”
“Sure.”
Lacey smiled weakly, and her aura began to shift. The cheery green color swirled and muddled itself with a pale and sickly yellow. “Do you know anything about her story?”
I shook my head. “Only that she was burned alive.”
“Joan of Arc was an amazing woman. She led the French to freedom in the fourteenth century and did a lot of incredible things. One of those things was talking to angels. At some point her followers became suspicious. They accused her of witchcraft and couldn’t believe such a miraculous thing could be good. People get scared by things they don’t understand,” she told me calmly, looking me directly in the eyes. “Just like my parents were afraid of me.”
My brow furrowed with confusion and I urged her to continue.
“When I was little, my grandmother and I were really close. She died one year while visiting us for the holidays. My parents were really sad, but after the funeral, I could still hear her talking to me — I could feel her. I thought it would make my parents happy to know she was watching over us … it didn’t. They thought that I was making up stories and lying. When I insisted it was true, they flipped out a bit. It happened again a few other times, not hearing voices necessarily, but I’d get this overwhelming sense of need to be in a certain place. I also predicted my mother’s miscarriage,” she told me softly. “I was standing next to her and felt life leave her body, then I started crying. They didn’t understand, until later when they took her to the doctor. I was right. A few weeks later I was placed in a psychiatric unit of a Catholic Hospital, where they strongly encouraged us to read about the saints. When I heard about Joan it was like a lightbulb turned on inside my brain.”
Her voice broke as she was speaking and tears welled up in her eyes. “She was able to do something wonderful and they killed her for it. I knew what would happen to me if I kept talking about my grandma — the same thing that happened to Joan, so I shut up about it. I didn’t want to be locked up for the rest of my life and told that I was crazy. Then I met you, and I’d heard stories about your family — about your mom. If there were anyone who wouldn’t judge me, or think I was crazy, it would be you. The night I saw you transform, it was like validation! I wasn’t imagining what I was feeling, because there was proof right in front of me.”
“Lacey, I’m so sorry that happened to you. And from your own parents.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay, they were just scared and didn’t know what else to do. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I just wanted you to know that I understand where you’re coming from, and why it needs to stay a secret. Believe me, no one understands that better than I do.”
“I believe you.”
“So about this guy…” she started nervously. “Does he know about you, I mean?”
I smiled at her and nodded. “Yeah, he’s well aware. I’m gonna go take that shower.”
“You do that. Then I wanna hear about this guy you met!”
“Deal!”
Chapter Three
Darkest Lullaby
I rolled over on the couch when my phone started meowing at us from the end table. It was the latest ringtone that Ryan changed it to without permission and I kept it out of spite.
“Oomph, roll over,” I told Caleb lazily. He pulled his arm back from around me and yawned. We'd fallen asleep together after the evening walk and lost all track of time. The reclining feature of his futon couch was the best invention since man invented the wheel, and conveniently enough, the best place to have an afternoon nap.
When I reached over to grab the phone and remembered I'd set the alarm to avoid this exact situation, Caleb kissed me on the cheek. It had been two and a half weeks since his miraculous return, and I still could not believe my impossible good luck. The weeks since he’d been back were the best time of my life to date. I set the phone back down as the pervasive meowing stopped and we untangled ourselves, stretching the aching muscles that had been cramped.
“I need to get back,” I told him reluctantly. “Lacey will be wondering where I ran off too.”
He grinned. “Meh, let her wonder.”
“I'm serious!”
“Alright, alright,” he conceded eventually. “Can I at least take you back?”
“Sure.”
I smacked my mouth a couple times, attempting to tame my haystack of hair. Caleb watched me for a second and laughed, “Come on, you look great.”
I scoffed at him then smiled, grabbing my purse off of the counter. It was still sparsely decorated and crying out for the addition of some ornaments and personal touches. We headed out the door, and I waited as he locked up, glancing around the wooden deck. I enjoyed walking at night. I loved to walk in general, but the city was completely different after dark with the moon shining overhead. It was a clear night, though the sun had just gone down, but the heat kept it from being anything near refreshing. Caleb smiled at me when he finished locking up and offered me his hand. I accepted the invitation willingly and followed him down the stairs. It led us to the sidewalk and around the side of the house out onto the street. His truck was parked outside next to a bookstore and some other shops that catered to the University. It was a giant, gray beast with the logo for his landscaping team.
“Are you ready for classes tomorrow?” he asked me casually.
I looked up at the sound of his voice and chuckled, “About as ready as I'll ever be.”
Caleb gave me the soft, boyish, barely there smile that he reserved for a chosen few and I felt my insides melt.
“Sometimes I still can’t believe that this is real,” I told him dreamily. “I went from being all alone, to happier than I could possibly imagine.”
That wasn’t entirely true, I was still recovering from what happened to my sister, but having him here with me made the pain of it bearable. He smiled as he gave my hand a gentle squeeze and said, “You and me both.”
We skirted along the sidewalk, passing a few other couples along the way. It’s funny how being in a relationship now, I viewed them differently. I could see the ones who were devoted to one another, it was written in their auras. The way they moved, the way their auras responded to each other; it brought new meaning to the word “chemistry”.
I wondered to myself idly how Caleb and I would have appeared to an outsider — to someone who could See. A complicated thrill of joy ran through me as I thought of it, imagining what that would be like. Caleb eyed me quizzically but didn’t say anything as I rubbed my arms to relieve the goosebumps.
When we made it to my building, I paused on the step and turned to face him. An awkward moment passed before I sauntered up to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug.
When he pulled away a knee jerk reaction overtook me, and I resisted, snuggling deeper into his chest. “Please don't,” I begged him desperately. “Just hold me for a minute.”
I felt his arms relax and pull me closer as he kissed me on the forehead. Neither one of us spoke as he put his arms around me in a hug and we stood there for a good five minutes without saying a single word. I breathed in th
e scent of his cologne and laundry detergent of his cotton shirt. Feeling his arms around me was almost magical, considering how previously it had never been an option. I smiled against his chest as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
“We never talked about what this means,” I told him quietly. “I don’t exactly know where this is going, and I thought maybe we should talk about what the other wants in a romantic relationship.”
He quirked an eyebrow and said, “Does that mean you consider us to be in a relationship?”
I blushed nervously and bit my bottom lip. “Well … yeah. Did you want to be?”
“Wynn, I’d move Heaven and Earth to be with you, you know I would. Of course, that’s what I want.”
Smiling at his admission, I told him, “Me too.”
“There’s something else I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he started nervously.
“What’s up?” I could tell by his tone that this wasn’t good news.
“Well, when I fell — when I became human, I broke the natural laws of maintaining balance. What should have happened when I decided to clip my wings was to be born, the way nature intends. I knew if I did that, my memory would be erased and you and I would never have had the chance to be together. By coming to earth this way, it skipped important steps and created a sort of vacuum. There has to be balance between dark and light, so when I took that opportunity for myself, it left the door open for a demon to come up.”
My stomach sank deep into the pit of my stomach and asked, “You’re telling me there’s another Earthwalker?”
Finding out I was a demon had put me on the path I’d come to now. The moment my powers had been activated, I was a threat to the Mortal Realm. If there was another Earthwalker, that changed everything. The Celestial Court had given me a year to prove I could control them and master the Seven Deadly Sins by defeating their respective Lord. When I left that day, an enchanted necklace had been placed around my neck — my ever-present, and often, forgotten piece of jewelry that hung like a noose around my neck. It served as a jailer’s chain for the duration of my trials, and I had not removed it since.
The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Page 4