“I wouldn’t really know,” I tell her. “These things are a first for me too.”
“Your first demon boyfriend?” she asks.
I awkwardly laugh. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“What? You do realize my brother and I are demons, right? It isn’t some cute little story we made up to impress you.”
“I’ve seen your brother’s eyes turn red. He transported me from one place to another in the blink of an eye. I think I’m aware you’re demons at this point.”
“Wait.” She stops walking. “My brother teleported with you and you didn’t die?”
I point to my body. “Nope, still standing here.”
She scoffs. “Then I don’t know how to tell you this, Calla Jones, but you’re not as human as you think you are.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
She begins to walk again and I follow her. “If your soul was still attached to your body, you definitely would have died. No way could it have withstood the transport otherwise.”
I just sigh. It’s the only thing I have the strength to muster at this point.
“I’m as human as anyone, as far as I know.”
“Well, I, for one, am relieved. It’ll make it a whole lot less awkward when you finally meet daddy.”
My feet grow heavy as I realize her words. Daddy. Devil. Lucifer.
“Lily, I’m not actually going to meet your…father, am I?”
She gives me an odd look. “I don’t see why not.”
“Lily, it’s…it’s…” What? What exactly is it? “I’m not too sure how I feel about that.”
“Well, you better figure it out because if there’s anything that Father doesn’t like, it’s fear. He’ll eat you alive if he senses it on you.”
Her response is sarcastic but she means every word. I can’t tell if the eating me alive part was a joke or not. I mean, I did see Lily spit out a finger.
We reach my apartment complex and Lily follows me up the rickety steps. “Looks like my job is done.”
I retrieve my keys out of my backpack and laugh. “Thanks for the company, Lily, I appreciate it.”
“Yeah,” she says and shrugs. “Would be kind of a bummer if you died via the hands of a serial killer at this point. After all, we’ve been through so much.”
I ignore that.
“Are you going home?” I ask when I unlock the door.
“No,” she says with a long drawl, “Luke is handling some stuff, so I thought I’d make myself scarce.”
“Stuff” hangs in the air but I don’t reach out to grab it.
“Would you like to come inside?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Lily pushes beside me and walks into my apartment.
Before I can welcome her, Aunt Polly walks out of her room in nothing but a robe. She goes straight into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
“Another one of Calla’s friends,” Aunt Polly says after emerging from the kitchen. “And you are?”
Lily’s hand reaches out to take my aunt’s in hers. “Lily Hale, Calla’s best friend and future sister-in-law.”
“Already talking marriage? You move faster than I thought you would, I’m impressed.” She turns her attention to Lily while my cheeks burn up. “A Hale, you say? So, you are real.”
“In the flesh,” Lily replies. “And the better Hale, might I add.”
My aunt smirks. “This one is as fiery as her hair, I like that. To what do we owe this pleasure, Lily Hale?”
Lily rocks on her heels. “Oh, just walking home with Calla after school.”
“Well, got any plans?” Aunt Polly asks. “With your brother, perhaps?”
“Nope,” she pops the P. “My brother is elsewhere tonight.”
“His loss is our gain then. I was going to make dinner tonight, if you’d like to stay awhile.”
“I’d love to,” Lily says and glances at me from the corner of her eye. “I’ve been meaning to come over and meet you for some time now.”
“Oh yeah?” my aunt asks.
“Yup, there’s no getting rid of me now. Just ask Calla.”
I nod, remembering her stalker tendencies the first few days we met.
“Well if my kid is going to marry into the infamous Hales, then I guess that already makes us family.” She laughs.
My heart swells.
I won’t be calling her mom anytime soon, because knowing her, it’d make her feel old, but I’ve never had someone take pride in claiming me as their own.
“Looks like you’ll fit in with us just fine,” Lily says and gives my aunt one of the few genuine smiles I’ve ever seen her give.
“Well, I can’t wait to get to know you, Lily,” my aunt says. “I hope you don’t mind me picking your brain over dinner.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re writing about the town history, right?”
“I am.”
“I’m not sure how much help I can be, but I’ll do my best.”
“Why don’t you guys get comfortable while I run out to get a few things?”
“Oh, we couldn’t let you do that by yourself. Why don’t we go with you?” Lily suggests.
“Well, that’s very kind of you. I’d love some company. Let me go change and then we’ll run to the grocery store.”
Lily and I watch in silence as my aunt walks down the hall and back into her bedroom.
When we’re alone, Lily turns to me. “Your aunt is really hot.”
“Yeah,” I tell her, “you’re not the first one to say so.”
“Mom’s sister?”
I nod.
“Remind me again, you’ve never met your mom?”
“Not exactly.” I lead her back down the hall. “Come on, we can put our stuff in my room. Do you want a jacket? It’s going to be cold later.”
“Yeah, sure…” Lily’s eyes go to the mirror sitting on my desk. “How did you get this?”
I glance over at it, embarrassed. “It was a gift.”
“You know whose this was, don’t you?”
I swallow thickly. “I don’t need more reminders of how I’m only second best.”
I haven’t given the mirror a second thought since Luke told me about this Camilla person. Don’t need the reminder that everything I am is based on someone else.
“What do you mean?” she sits on the edge of my bed. “I’ve seen more emotions from him in these past few weeks than in my whole life.”
“I’m not doubting your brother has feelings for me, but I’m not confident in saying I’ll ever be the first choice.”
She gives me a dead look. “Well…you’re alive and she’s not, so there’s that.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Obviously, but I’m still afraid whenever he looks at me all he sees is Camilla.”
Lily sighs heavily. “Allow me to rebut that. You’re much more entertaining, I promise you that.”
I raise my brow. “Did you meet her?”
“No,” she says, “that was way before my time. But from what he’s told me many, many times it was a hypothetical love.”
“What do you mean hypothetical?”
“A love that never had the chance to be. You have to realize, Luke wore the persona of a rich nobleman and Camilla was a half French, half Spanish glorified nanny. They shouldn’t have even been communicating, much less building an actual relationship. Luke will never know her as much as he knows you. You just have to give him the chance to prove that to you. I think that’s your insecurities talking.”
“Lily,” I sigh, “I hate to break it to you, but your brother isn’t exactly the captain of the basketball team. He’s a demon.”
“See.” She snaps her fingers. “That’s your problem right there. Stop treating him and thinking of him as this all-powerful thing. Treat him like a normal guy. After hundreds of years playing judge, jury, and executioner, all he wants is the chance to live a normal life. That’s why I wanted us to move back here in the first place.”
My brows lower at
the statement. It’s something I’ve never thought about asking. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“Nothing was happening and that was the problem. My brother was so deep in Hell, I was afraid he wasn’t going to come out. So, I told my father we needed a vacation and insisted Luke come to Diablo with me and try to have a human life. Just to try something different in hopes it would give him the break he desperately needed.”
“What exactly does your brother do?”
“Everything,” Lily says. “Like I said: judge, jury, and executioner. His main job has always been to keep the demons in line. Sometimes they forget they’re still lowly creatures and try to act up. Luke is our father’s most prized possession.”
It makes sense why Luke would hate his father so much. He’s never been a son to him, just another valuable member of his army.
“You really should ask him about all of this, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’re so much easier to talk to. You tell me how it is with nothing else lingering.”
“You have to give my brother a break. He’s been the same person for hundreds of years. This is the first time he’s ever really spent time with mortals and let me tell you, you guys are truly an interesting and complex race.”
I want to ask more questions, but my aunt calls for us.
We slip on our coats and I ask one last question as we walk out of my bedroom. “Just how old is your brother?”
She laughs. “You don’t want to know. But if you were ever interested in a sugar daddy, I’d say you’ve found one.”
Today was worse than my first day here at Diablo.
Yesterday Luke skipped the lunch period, so it was almost like a normal day. I didn’t feel like the main attraction at the local zoo. Luke didn’t walk into the cafeteria with his arm around my shoulder. He didn’t put both of our lunches on a single tray and carry it to our table for me. He didn’t straddle the bench so he could face me while he ate. And he certainly didn’t kiss me on the forehead in front of the entire student body.
Today, he did all of those things.
And I felt every single pair of eyes on me.
For a fraction of a second, I found myself searching the room for Sasha before coming to the halting realization that it’s impossible for a dead girl to be here. Though the town is still none the wiser as far as I know.
Daisy was the one who had to shoo away the people lingering around the table for too long.
Now we’re finally in last period and I can’t hear a thing Mr. Riley is saying.
Luke’s settled back against his chair, reaching his arm behind him so he can hold my hand. Even though I’m getting a cramp from leaning forward, I don’t want to break the connection.
When the final bell rings, there’s a moment where I let go of his hand to grab something and I automatically miss the warmth.
As we walk down the hall, I start to wonder what’s next. I’ve never done this before. Does he drive me home? Take me back to the manor? Do we work on homework together? Does he even really do homework? If he’s a demon, he must have some type of mind controlling capabilities, right?
“Hungry?” he asks when we approach our lockers.
I’m not but I still nod.
Luke leans forward and kisses my forehead, his lips lingering and leaving a sizzle when he leaves. My eyes stay closed in the moment even though he’s long gone, not believing I have a person. A person who wants to kiss me and feed me food to ensure I’m happy. Someone who treats me like Freddie does Becca.
I switch out my textbooks, and when I turn around and see a girl from our history class attempting to speak to Luke, something inside of me clicks.
My locker slams shut and I find myself across the hall and getting closer to the conversation happening before me. Or lack thereof, because Luke is showing no interest in the person standing next to him. Only when the girl reaches and touches his shoulder to get his attention does he look over at the hand and up to me. Her eyes follow his and when she sees me standing behind her, she jerks. “Oh, hi, Calla, I was just asking Luke—”
“Leave,” I say.
Her brown eyes widen. “Oh, no, I’m not—”
I take a step toward her, my irritation rising, and she takes the hint.
I don’t take my eyes off of her until she leaves. When we’re alone, I turn back to Luke to see him leaning against his locker.
“Hello there, mon petite guerrier.”
I have no idea what he said, but a calmness washes over me.
I lean against the locker beside him. “Where do you want to go?”
Luke’s smile widens the longer he stares at me and when I ask him why, he just laughs. “What are you in the mood for?”
I rock on my heels and lean into him just enough to brush against him and retreat back into my own space. “Well, we never finished having breakfast yesterday.”
“Breakfast for lunch it is.” He shuts his locker. “Do you need to stop at home first?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m okay. We can go.”
We’re making our way toward the back of the school where the student parking lot is when Lily calls out our names from behind us. She speed-walks over to us, and that’s the first sign something is wrong; Lily only does things at her own pace.
The second sign is when she pulls us over to the edge of the hallway and hopefully out of earshot of everyone else around us.
“What is it, Lily?” her brother asks.
Lily chews on her plump red lip, causing me to worry. “It’s bad, Luke.”
Luke doesn’t seem to share his sister’s concern quite yet. “What did you do now?”
Her shoulders slump at the accusation. But she recovers and crosses her arms over her chest, her typical angry stance. “Why do you think I’m always the one who’s done something wrong?”
Her brother rolls his eyes. “Because you are.”
Lily seems to give it a momentary thought before dropping her arms. “Whatever. We gotta go home.”
“Spit it out, Lily. Calla and I had plans to get an early dinner.”
“Do you want to come?” I ask.
She chews her lip again. “Sorry, but I really need Luke at home.”
Considering she was the one who wanted us together from the beginning, I know it must be important. “Okay, no problem.”
Luke glowers but doesn’t dare deny his sister. “I’ll meet you there. Let me take Calla home.”
She runs off in the opposite direction and Luke takes my hand in his again, continuing our journey to his car. “I apologize for this.”
“It’s okay.”
We get into the car and he makes quick work of putting us on the main road. “Can I take you to a later dinner instead?”
I sigh as the soft leather heats up. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just see you tomorrow.”
Luke sneaks a glance at me and turns back to the road. “No, it’s important. I always keep my word, and I promised to feed you. I’ll make sure whatever Lily needs to speak about is done in time to take you out.”
We’re parked in front of my apartment complex now, the car ride being way too short. “If it’s serious, don’t worry about me, okay?”
Luke puts the car into park. “You’re my number one concern, amour.”
A little shiver runs through me.
He’s telling the truth, and the weight it adds onto my shoulders is always too much to take on.
Luke leans over the console when I don’t respond to his sentiment. “Embrasse moi.”
I don’t need to speak French to know what he wants from me.
This is our second kiss, once more in his car. Luke has been extremely respectful of giving me my space and never pushing my boundaries. He’s held my hand until it felt like second nature to have it there, and I’ve grown accustomed to his forehead kisses. I think those might be my favorite thing. A subtle reminder that pleasure can still be innocent, not anything like my grandmother instilled in me.
I mee
t him halfway and when our mouths connect, I know why kissing was whispered about throughout the halls of St. John’s. Why the girls were willing to do stupid things to get a boy’s attention and why they shed so many tears when their feelings weren’t reciprocated. And finally, I’ll admit my grandmother was right about one thing: kissing is sinful.
And it’s a sin I want to bathe in for the rest of my life.
I clear my throat and force my body away from him. He goes to get out of the car and walk me to my door but I brush it off. “No, no, I’ll see you later.”
Luke waits in the car until I’m safe inside of my apartment with the door locked.
I lean my back against the front door, taking in some deep breaths to gather my wits. In a matter of a few days, my world has once again been flipped upside down. I wonder if this is why the girls at St. John’s would sneak out to meet some of the boys from the neighboring all-boys school. I’d hear whispers of the debauchery that went on behind the soccer stands but never thought it was worth the risk. But if they felt half of what I feel when I’m with Luke, I know why they risked it.
The front door is pushed open and propels me forward. I catch myself on the sofa and turn to see Aunt Polly walk in with some grocery bags. I grab them from her and set them on the counter. “Hey, stranger,” she says, “it was starting to feel like I lived here alone.”
My smile is embarrassed.
“Hungry?”
“No,” I say almost regretfully, “Luke’s taking me to dinner.”
“Oh, I see. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” She moves into the kitchen and washes her hands.
I get out of the small kitchen so she has room to prep her food and lean against a nearby wall. “You love to say I told you so.”
Aunt Polly winks at me. “I know a lot of things, so you should feel blessed you’re living with someone so wise.”
I laugh. I do feel blessed.
“I only listen to what you have to say, Aunt Polly.”
“That’s what I like to hear. You know I only want the best for you.”
“I know.” Aunt Polly is the only person who knows almost every part of me and has never treated me any different. Not any of the times she’s picked me up from the police station or when she caught me curled into a ball the day Luke brought me home after the Cornwall game. Brutal honesty is something I’ll always be able to count on from her.
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