“Not so cocky now, are you darlin’?” He grinned down at me.
I was stuck but didn’t plan to give in gracefully. I tried to pull my hands free, but he leaned his weight against them. I tried to wriggle out from under him and he pressed his weight down. I was stuck. Stuck in the bed with Sean… hmm, suddenly this was not such a bad thing. I stopped moving. My heart began to thud, and his sped up to match the rhythm. I felt the beat against my chest and reveled in its strength. He dipped his head and kissed me. It was a long, slow, deliberate kiss that took my will away.
A loud knocking interrupted what could have been a major event in my life… However, it was impossible to ignore the noise. I am pretty sure I groaned in frustration, but Sean took it in stride.
He yelled, “Okay, okay, we’ll be out in a minute.” To me, he said, “Come on, beautiful, there’s work to do. Time to get up.”
The door cracked open, and Killian stuck his head inside. His expression was not friendly when he saw my flushed face and red lips. He didn’t say anything then, but I knew we’d hear about it soon enough. Geez, he was such a nanny!
It felt like déjà vu when we walked into the kitchen. Dec and Killian were already sitting at the table eating. They had a bowl of hard-boiled eggs between them, and a carton of orange juice on the table. One of them had set out plates for Sean and me. Probably it was Dec’s doing; he was the sweetest one of the bunch. I felt awkward when I walked in, but Dec waved me over to a chair.
“Come and sit down. We’ve got food.” He waved a hand over the table and added, “Do you want something else? We’ve got yogurt and cereal too. Help yourself. You’re going to need some energy.” He winked at the last part.
I opted for a fat-free yogurt. I was surprised to see the fridge was stocked with nothing but healthy things. There was fruit, yogurt, eggs, fat-free milk, and all kinds of fresh vegetables. No sign of lasagna or leftover takeout food. Who cooked around here?
I sat down and sucked on the end of my spoon for a minute before I asked, “So… I don’t want to be nosy, but whose house is this, and where are your parents?”
Three shocked faces stared back at me. No one said a word for a long time. Sean glanced pointedly at Killian, and Killian glared back at him. Dec burst out laughing.
He said, “Ha! I told you she would figure it out!” To me, he said, “I wondered how long it would take you to see through us. I knew you would, smart girl!” His face lit up with an ear to ear grin. He was pleased with himself.
Wait a minute… “You don’t really have parents, do you?”
Killian’s stern face turned from surprise to resignation. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up. His shoulders were tense as he went over to the window. Even agitated, his movements were graceful. They all had a way of moving that was graceful and purposeful at the same time. They reminded me of hunting jaguars… lean, muscular, graceful, patient… They were probably just as dangerous to their prey. I swallowed hard. I was pretty sure I was safe…
Killian whirled and pointed a finger at me. “I warned you not to play with fire, didn’t I? But you can’t leave anything alone, can you? I specifically asked you to trust your instincts. You ignored them. Think about it! What do they tell you? What do your instincts say about us?” His voice was soft, but laced with steel.
Sean and Dec flanked me, not touching me, but close enough to feel their warmth. Their expressions were neutral, giving nothing away. Killian was running the show and neither one looked at me with support. They were all waiting for me to speak. It seemed important to them. What did they want me to say?
I drew a deep breath, and said with absolute conviction, “I trust you. But I’m also wary of you. Sorry, Sean, but you too.” I started to reach out to him, and he tensed. I dropped my hand to my side again. “I am afraid of you, all of you, but only because I sense your power. I know how dangerous you are.”
No response from them. Killian raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. I ground my teeth together. This wasn’t going well. I tried again.
“Okay, my instincts tell me you’re dangerous and powerful. You have a code you live by though. There are rules to your lives. I don’t believe you would hurt innocent people, and you go out of your way to keep people from finding out about you.” I paused for a minute, and added, “I believe you’re here for something really important that I don’t understand. I’m really sorry to complicate things for you. I won’t share your secrets.” My hand was itching to reach for Sean as I badly needed reassurance. I raised my chin and waited on Killian’s judgment.
He stared intently during my little speech. I hadn’t noticed anything strange, but he seemed to be reading my mind. His eyes were fathomless when I looked into them now. His thoughts were hidden from me. He seemed to come to a decision then. He rolled his shoulders and did something completely unexpected.
He took my hands in his, and said simply, “Trust your instincts.” Then he squeezed my hands a little too hard and smiled tightly.
When he dropped my hands, I felt a relief so strong my knees buckled. I really needed a hug. Before I could move, Dec picked me up in a bear hug and swung me around in a circle.
“Welcome to the family, Mica me girl!” He sat me on my feet in front of Sean and kissed my cheek. “It looks like we get to keep you after all.”
“What am I? A stray puppy? Geez!”
Sean laughed, and quipped, “Oh, not a puppy, darlin’--just a stray human.”
Chapter 15: Angels and Demons
“HUMAN?”
They all laughed, but no one clarified the comment.
“Well?” I insisted.
Killian sighed. “I guess it’s time for an official family meeting. Mica, you might want to sit down. This might be a shock.”
Another shock? Really? What else? With this question in the back of my mind, I went to the couch and sat down. Sean sat next to me while Dec draped himself over a recliner. The furniture was comfortable but very simple. In fact, there were no decorations at all. No pictures or knickknacks sitting around and no fussy curtains or anything. It was obvious that three young men lived here. I wondered vaguely where they got the money to pay for all of this.
Killian dragged in a kitchen chair, and settled into storytelling mode. He began at the beginning I suppose. By the time we got to the middle of the story, where I came along, my head was ready to implode. I had to keep stopping him every few minutes to process what he was telling me.
“So let me get this straight. I understand you protect people. I get that. But who are you fighting all the time? What is the grey stuff from?”
“Demons,” Sean answered.
My mouth dropped open. “No way. They exist?”
Dec snorted. “Of course they do. Who do you think is behind all the evil things that happen around us? People sure, but they get motivation from demons.”
“You’ll need to run that by me again.”
“Haven’t you ever read the Bible? Surely you know about good and evil beings? People can be good or evil without any help, but sometimes demons get involved and encourage people into evil acts. They have agendas too. They want to cause as much chaos as they can by encouraging susceptible humans to do evil things. They love to plant the seeds and watch as people spiral out of control and kill each other. But even more importantly, the goal of all demons is to get mankind ready for the return of the antichrist. Our job is to discover where the demons are and destroy them. We try to limit the chaos to give humans a fighting chance.” I must’ve looked alarmed, because he added, “Hey, we don’t think the antichrist is coming soon--we haven’t seen enough signs to worry about that yet. We’re just taking care of ordinary demons for now.”
“Oh, that makes me feel tons better! Okay, I need a minute.” I closed my eyes and tried to absorb everything they’d told me so far. The words streamed through my head. Primani… protectors… demons… Primani… protectors… demons. They were warriors, weren’t they? That explained the soldier-like
attitudes, the commando clothes, and the guns. If they had other abilities, why did they use the guns? I asked Sean that question.
“People use guns, Mica. Do I really need to go into what we do with our guns?”
“You shoot people, obviously! What do you do about the demons? How do you stop them?”
“We have other ways to destroy them. You haven’t seen that, and I hope you don’t have to.” He pushed my hair behind my ear and looked away. His eyes were troubled.
Dec began telling me more about their missions, but I wasn’t listening. Something else had my attention. We have other ways to destroy them. Demons came from Hell, right? What would their destruction be like? Did they bleed? I puzzled this concept through while Dec talked. I came to only one possible conclusion…
“Holy shit!” I squeaked before bolting to the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet in time.
Sean came up behind me. “You okay? What’s the matter?”
Okay? Definitely not! I was covered in cremated demon particles! That was so gross! I shot him the evil eye and threw up again, and one more time for good measure. I felt so unclean! Swaying a bit, I wiped my mouth, and glared daggers at Sean. Unusually concerned, Killian was lounging against the door frame, a half-formed smirk on his mouth.
I jabbed a finger into Sean’s chest, and accused, “You were blowing up demons last night, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, what about it?” He watched me like I might explode. His mouth twitched, but he bit down to keep from smiling.
“You hugged me! You covered me in demon guts! Oh, my God! That’s disgusting!” My voice climbed at least four octaves.
Killian burst out laughing. The sound was so strange it made me freeze. He was cracking up. Dec came running in and asked what was so funny.
“Demon guts!” Killian managed to say.
I glared at the three of them. Sean’s mouth started to twitch, and then Dec chuckled. It was too much to take.
“Get out! All of you get out now. I need a shower. And Sean, we’re not done with this conversation.” I slammed the door behind them and locked it. I scrubbed my body until my skin was bright red and hurting. I ran out of hot water and stood in the cold for five minutes longer. By the time I got out, I was squeaky clean and ready to find humor in it.
When I finally reappeared in the living room, the guys wore serious faces. Not one of them laughed. I caught the twinkle in their eyes though.
“You never asked me what I called you about, Sean. Probably I should tell you about the visit I had.”
I told them every detail I could remember about the big guy’s message at the party. Sean had me repeat it one more time. He swore when I passed on the part about me getting killed. He draped an arm around me protectively and mumbled something in that language I didn’t understand. Killian rolled his eyes, but Dec smiled in understanding.
“What did you say?”
He actually blushed but answered me. “I said I would protect you with my life.”
“Oh.” For once, I was speechless.
Killian wasn’t as speechless. He was muttering angrily and got up to pace by the window again.
“Mica, think hard about something for me. You said he grabbed your arm, right? Did you notice anything unusual about his touch? Did you sense anything odd?”
“Odd? I don’t know what you mean. Could you be more specific?”
“Seriously, this could be very important. Did you get anything from him at all?” He tapped his temple to make the point.
I racked my brain for any impressions but didn’t find anything.
“Sorry, but nothing stands out to me. He was a stranger; that much I noticed. He and his creepy friend weren’t from around here.”
“Okay. That’s good. I’m almost sure he was human then. Your intuition is pretty strong so I think you would have sensed a demon if one touched you.”
I hadn’t thought about that possibility. Ewww, gross! I rubbed my arms where the stranger held me. Maybe I should take another shower? I looked towards the hallway, but Dec interrupted me.
“No way! I need a shower. You’ve used up all the hot water twice already. You’re clean enough.” I narrowed my eyes so he added, “No, I’m not reading your mind. You’re just really obvious.”
“Oh, awesome! Guess I need to work on that then?”
Killian interrupted our bickering. “All right, let’s focus. We need to walk through this and get a plan together. Mica, you can stay if you want, at least for now.”
For the next hour or so, they talked about the message, the messenger, solutions, and protection details. They were really worried about me and my family. I must have been naïve because I just assumed they would fix everything and nothing bad could happen. I said as much and all three of them bombarded me with comments.
Sean said, “Nothing will happen to you or your family. We’ll protect you. This is what we do.”
Dec blew me a kiss. “Seriously? You think so much of us? I’m flattered. Thanks, darlin’.”
Killian was, as usual, brutally honest, and a big downer. “Well, you’re partially right. We’ll run this down and neutralize the threat; however, it might take a while and in the meantime, you’re not safe.”
“What does that mean?”
Sean reached over to squeeze my hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. We do have some advantages over the bad guys, you know.” Idly, he kissed my temple and got back into the general discussion.
I stayed awake for as long as I could, but fell asleep somewhere along the way. I woke up to the sound of music. I stretched and sat up. It looked like the meeting was over since I was alone in the living room. They’d left me on the couch but someone had covered me with a little blanket. The light was odd though. I looked around for a clock, but of course, there wasn’t a clock anywhere in sight. I fished out my cell phone and saw two missed calls from my dad. Oh crap! What time was it? Oh, this was not good. It was already 4:00, and they were probably wondering where the heck I was. I went to the party last night and didn’t come home. I called my dad to let him know I was okay. He wasn’t too happy though. I was ordered to get home this instant. I felt like reminding him I couldn’t teleport like some people I know. He wouldn’t get the reference though…
After sending Dec to pick up my car from the other house, Sean drove me home. My dad was waiting on the porch when we pulled up to the house. The furious look he gave Sean would’ve singed his wings off if he had any.
“Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick about you.” He swiveled towards Sean with steam coming out of his ears. “And you! What do you think you’re doing keeping my daughter out all night and all day? I oughta kick your ass for you right now!”
Sean looked contrite, and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Thomas. There was some trouble at the party so we went to my house. My parents were happy to let Mica stay in our spare room. We didn’t want to wake you up last night. We stayed up all night playing Monopoly and overslept today.”
Wow, he was smooth! I just nodded. Yep, that’s what happened. Yep. My dad still looked suspicious and grounded me for a week. No visitors allowed here and no going out except to school or work. Oh, awesome. Now I was a sitting duck for any vengeful demon that could sniff me out!
“Can I at least bring Sean inside? I have some homework to give him for school next week.”
Once inside the apartment, we went over their plan. Domino was thrilled to see us and sprawled out next to Sean. He rubbed her belly while we talked. Killian and Dec would report to their boss to get some new orders. Sean would stay here to watch over me. They’d be gone a day or two. When they got their new orders, they would have to go take care of the problem. That meant that I would be left alone to fend for myself. They were stronger when they were together. Depending on the plan, they would try to rotate protection if they could. In the meantime, they would teach me how to recognize and avoid demons.
“Okay, so what about ordinary evil humans? Maybe they�
��ll send a person to grab me. I don’t even have a real gun!”
He considered that, and said, “I can take care of that. Are you afraid of guns?”
“Are you kidding me? No way. I’m dying to take out some bad guys.” I pointed my finger like a gun and shot the wall.
He just looked at me. “Uh, okay, I’ll have to sneak you out of here then. We can practice out at our place. I’ll get you a gun, but you have to keep it hidden. You’re not old enough to have a gun, and I don’t want you going to jail!”
We talked for hours and gradually the subject turned to our relationship. It was awkward territory that we didn’t talk about much. I felt suddenly shy and lowered my lashes.
He brushed a fingertip across my mouth, tipped up my chin, and said, “Don’t look away. Your eyes are beautiful, and so are you.” He feathered kisses across my eyelids, the tip of my nose, then each corner of my mouth. I melted into a puddle… The anticipation was killing me. I parted my lips, breath coming quickly, but he barely brushed them with his tongue on his way to my ear.
After nuzzling my neck, he curled the tip of his clever tongue around the shell of my ear all the while he bared his heart. “I’m amazed by you. Love isn’t something we expect. We’re sworn to protect people, and love makes that hard. We stay above it. But you… you are something else entirely. You showed up and turned my world upside down. I don’t know what to do with you, but I know I can’t be away from you for long. I can’t breathe right when I’m away from you. The rhythm is off somehow. You’re a part of me now, and I don’t want to live without you. If I lost you, it would be like losing my heart. I wouldn’t survive it.”
I marveled at his words. My heart was skipping beats, and I couldn’t breathe. For the second time in 24 hours, I was speechless.
The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) Page 15