by S. J. West
The boy readily agrees and Keri seems rather happy with the arrangement. Uncle Malcolm the matchmaker? That’s a new moniker for him.
By the end of the dance, the one person I had forgotten about came up to Aiden and me and tapped Aiden on the shoulder. When Aiden turns around, I see Hunter for the first time that evening.
“Hi, I’m Hunter,” he tells Aiden holding out a hand for Aiden to shake. “I was wondering if I could have the last dance of the night with your girlfriend. She did kind of promise me one dance tonight, as long as it’s ok with you.”
Aiden looks to me. “Caylin can dance with whomever she pleases. I don’t own her.”
I feel an awkward tension develop and instantly regret promising Hunter a dance. There’s no one else in the room I want to dance the last dance with more than Aiden, but a promise is a promise.
“Sure, Hunter. I’ll dance with you.”
“While you’re otherwise occupied,” Aiden says, placing a slight emphasis on the last word, “I’m going to retrieve your coat from where we left it earlier.”
I nod. “Ok, the dance should be over by the time you get back.”
Hunter takes my hand and leads me onto the dance floor. The last song Chandler plays is a slow love song. I almost want to yell up to him and tell him to play something more upbeat to end the night on, but I feel sure that would look suspicious.
Hunter takes me into his arms, and we begin to dance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so happy,” Hunter tells me. “You must really like him.”
“I love him.”
“How come you didn’t tell me he was a Watcher? No wonder I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell with you. I would have given up years ago if I had known.”
I shrug. “Not really something I tell a lot of people. He’s the man I love, Watcher or not.”
Hunter is silent for the rest of the dance, and I’m thankful for the quiet. I didn’t really feel like making a lot of small talk with the boy who had been my faithful stalker for the last year and a half. Now he understood why he never had a chance with me, and I feel like that’s enough for one night.
At the end of the dance, Hunter kisses my hand.
“Thank you for the dance,” he tells me.
“Thanks for finally understanding,” I tell him in return.
Hunter smiles and walks away.
I immediately search the room for Aiden but don’t see him. I seek out Leah and Joshua and find them in the hallway. Joshua is helping Leah on with her coat as I walk up to them.
“Have you guys seen Aiden?”
Leah shakes her head. “No. Did he go somewhere?”
“He went to go get my coat, but I thought he would be back by now.”
“Think he would be outside?” Joshua asks.
“I don’t know, maybe, but that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. He went to get the coat so I wouldn’t get cold.”
“Hey, Cole,” I hear Hunter call behind me. “If you’re looking for your boyfriend, I just saw him.”
I turn to Hunter and walk over to him.
“Where?”
“I saw him in your uncle’s classroom.”
“Oh,” I say, wondering if Uncle Malcolm drew Aiden aside to have a private conversation about our night together.
“Do you want us to wait with you until they get through?” Leah asks me, having come to the same conclusion as me about Uncle Malcolm speaking with Aiden.
“No, you guys go on. He probably won’t be long.”
Leah looks uncertain.
“Go,” I say with a wave of my hand, “I’m sure the two of you have more important things to do right now.”
Leah blushes. Joshua blushes. But neither protest.
“Ok, I’ll call you later though,” Leah says.
I just smile and turn towards the hallway leading down to Uncle Malcolm’s classroom.
“I can wait with you,” Hunter offers.
“What about your girlfriend? Won’t she wonder where you are?”
“Nah, I broke up with Monica. Decided to take your advice, Cole and find someone I can have a real relationship with. Since the prettiest girl in school is officially off the market,” he says with a smile to me, “I guess I’ll have to figure out who the second prettiest is.”
“Uh, that would be Leah,” I tell him. “And she’s off the market too.”
Hunter groans. “Why is it that I’m always a step behind? Ok, ok, ok, the third prettiest then.”
“Good luck on that,” I tell him as I start to walk down the hallway to see what’s taking Aiden and Uncle Malcolm so long.
As I approach the door, I expect to hear their voices come from the room but don’t.
I peek through the small window in the door and look inside the room but don’t see anyone in there. The lights aren’t even on.
“You’re sure you saw him in there?”
“Yeah,” Hunter says, opening the door to the room. “Look for yourself.”
When Hunter opens the door, I involuntarily raise a trembling hand to my mouth as I stare in horror at what’s sitting on top of Uncle Malcolm’s desk.
It’s a severed leg from the knee down standing like a paperweight on top of some test sheets scattered across the desk. Something flashes against the ankle of the leg and I see an anklet similar to mine. The one JoJo made me for my fifteenth birthday to protect me from the Princes of Hell. But, I wasn’t the only one who had them. All of the Watchers had them too.
“Whose leg is that?” I ask Hunter, forcing myself to find my voice, but I feel pretty sure I already know the answer to my question.
“Lover boy’s I would imagine,” Hunter says, leaning up against the open door.
I look at Hunter and see that the same smile I saw when he came to my art studio, the one that didn’t quite fit his face, is there now. But, it seems to be more of a mock than a smile.
“Where is he? What did you do to him?”
“Oh, I didn’t do anything to him. I’m just a changeling not an angel.”
“How long?” I ask. “How long has Hunter been dead?”
The changeling shrugs. “Few days. Since that morning he didn’t meet you outside. And might I just say, this boy really had a hard on for you, Cole. It’s kind of sad really. He couldn’t seem to think about anyone but you.”
“Where is Aiden?” I demand.
“Hell if I know. Wherever it is he went to get your coat, I think. I was just supposed to show you the little piece of him I saw in the room. So, it wasn’t a lie. I did see him in here.”
I want to slap the grin off the changeling’s face.
“Who has him?” I ask, trying to keep my thoughts clear and not just phase into a situation I might not be able to handle on my own.
“Prince of Hell named Levi’s got him. He’s pretty nasty though, Cole. He told me to tell you not to even think about bringing someone with you, like your uncle, because he’ll kill your boyfriend without even blinking. You sure you want to go head to head with him? Don’t think you’ll win this fight.”
“I don’t go into anything thinking that I’ll lose,” I say, taking a deep breath and phasing back to the art room Aiden built for me in our home.
When I get there, I see Aiden lying on one of the worktables unconscious. His face is bloody like he’s been beaten to within an inch of his life and half of his right leg is missing. Two werewolves are taking turns licking the ragged, open wound.
Standing on the other side of the room from Aiden are three men. Two are facing my direction and the third has his back to me as he’s talking to them. I know the two facing me are Watchers because they’re wearing the black feather cloaks and leather pants my Aunt Tara told me Watchers wear to official ceremonies. The two Watchers look over the man’s shoulders and stare at me. The man, who I presume to be Levi, turns around. He smiles at me, but I know it means nothing good. The bracelet Jess gave me is almost burning red hot around my wrist.
“I
see Hunter did his job,” the Prince of Hell named Levi says as he walks over to the table where Aiden is, his hands bursting into blue flames.
I know he can kill Aiden with one touch since he no longer wears the protective anklet.
“What do you want?” I ask him.
“I want you dead,” Levi says. “It’s rather simple. You hand over your life to me and lover boy here can live.”
The sound of the werewolves whining as if they’re in pain draws my attention back to them. I see them beginning to bow in my direction.
“Take your children and leave us,” Levi orders the two Watchers. “They’re useless to me in her presence.”
The Watchers phase over to their children and phase away, leaving only me, Levi, and Aiden in the room.
“Why do you care if I live or die?” I ask. “I thought Baal was the one who was scared of me. Are you saying all of you are?”
Levi scoffs. “We’re not scared of a little girl, just trying to cover all our bases. Why leave you alive if you might become a threat to us? It’s better to just nip your little life in the bud while we can.”
Levi’s eyes travel down my legs to the anklet I wear.
“Take that thing off,” he orders, holding his left hand over Aiden apparently ready to touch him if I disobey.
I slowly bend down, desperately trying to keep my thoughts clear and think of a way out of this mess. I give myself a few seconds to evaluate the situation by acting like the catch on the anklet won’t come undone.
“Quit stalling!” Levi yells.
I undo the latch and draw the anklet off, knowing I only have one advantage in this fight.
I stand to my full height and hand the protective charm out to Levi.
“Here,” I tell him, “take it.”
Levi leaves Aiden’s side and walks toward me. As soon as he stretches his arm out to take the anklet from my hand, I do the only thing I can think of and something I sincerely hope he doesn’t see coming.
My hands burst into blue flames, matching those of Levi’s. I grab the wrist of the arm he is holding out and twist with all my might, breaking it easily. He might be a Prince of Hell, but he’s still living in a human body. He screams, but I use the moment of his disorientation to pull him to me by his now broken arm and stab my other hand through his chest. I wrap my fingers around his beating heart, and let his human form fall to the floor dead.
A shimmer of white light floats up from the body and stands before me.
“That was a mistake,” it says to me. “How are you so strong? What else are you hiding from us? You’ve become a threat to all of us now. The others will be coming for you.”
Before I can make a reply, what I have to assume is Levi’s angelic form flies through one of the rectangular holes in the ceiling and into the night.
I drop the still beating heart in my hand onto the floor and run to Aiden. I pick him up easily from the table and go to the one place I know we will be safe.
I phase us to my parents’ house in Lakewood.
My mom and dad are sitting on the couch together watching a movie on the TV mounted over the fireplace behind me.
When they see me, bloodied and carrying an equally bloody Aiden in my arms, they both jump up and immediately come to me.
I hear them asking me questions, but I’m so upset and confused I simply can’t answer. Finally, my dad takes Aiden out of my arms and lays him down on our dining room table. My mother enfolds me in a hug, and I finally let myself cry, unburdening the horror of what just happened from my soul. I hear my dad on the phone calling Uncle Malcolm. In a matter of seconds, Uncle Malcolm and Jess are at the house surveying the damage done to Aiden. I faintly hear Jess say that Mason went to get Rafe.
“Anyone know where the rest of his leg is?” Uncle Malcolm asks.
I pull away from my mother’s shoulder, which is drenching wet now from my tears.
“It’s on your desk at school,” I’m able to get out before completely falling apart again.
I see Uncle Malcolm phase. I force myself to look at Aiden. He’s so pale I begin to wonder if he’s actually dead. But, a voice in the back of my mind tells me he can’t die, not without being killed by an archangel’s power.
“Go to him,” my mother urges me, making me realize with those three little words that it’s time for me to grow up a little bit.
The man I love is hurt and all I’m doing is crying on my mother’s shoulder like I’m five-years-old again. If I want others to treat me like an adult, it’s time I started acting like one.
I pull away from my mother and walk over to the table. I lean down over Aiden and gently caress his face, wishing he would wake up but knowing his unconsciousness is a blessing in disguise. At least he isn’t awake to feel the pain from the mutilation of his body.
Mason and Rafe phase in just as Uncle Malcolm does. I don’t watch them reattached Aiden’s leg. I keep my eyes focused on his face in case he begins to wake up in the middle of their ministrations. I want to make sure I’m the first person he sees. I want him to know he’s safe. I can’t imagine the torture they put him through, but I know five against one certainly didn’t sound like good odds to me.
“Caylin,” I hear Rafe say beside me, his voice gentle with understanding, “I need some space to work for a moment.”
I step aside. Rafe lifts his talisman, Moses’ staff, and slowly passes it over Aiden’s body. A warmth enters the air around us as Rafe uses the staff’s power to magnify his own. A light blue light emanates from his hands and the staff as he begins to heal Aiden’s wounds.
After a few passes over Aiden’s body, Rafe steps closer to examine what has been healed.
“He should be fine,” Rafe announces. “It might take him a little while to wake up from the trauma, but I see no reason why he won’t be as good as new.”
I walk over to the kitchen and grab a glass bowl and a rag from an overhead cabinet. I fill the bowl with warm water and take it back to the table. After dipping the rag into the water, I wring it out and begin to clean Aiden’s face of the blood splattered there.
No one says anything to me while I do this. I think they know I need to do this simple task to help clear my mind of the events that just took place. I concentrate my thoughts on cleaning Aiden, but I faintly hear everyone asking if they know what happened in worried voices.
“No, she hasn’t said anything about it yet,” my mom says. “I don’t think we need to push her.”
“Probably Baal,” my Uncle Malcolm murmurs heatedly. “We seriously just need to kill that son of a bitch once and for all.”
“It wasn’t Baal,” I tell them, continuing to wipe the blood from Aiden’s forehead. “It was a prince named Levi.”
“That’s the one I want to kill,” Jess says with a vengeance. “He’s hurt my friends one too many times.”
“He warned me that the others would be coming for me now,” I tell them, sounding strangely calm about it all, even to my own ears. “I killed Levi too easily. He wasn’t expecting me to be so strong. I don’t think they’re going to like that.”
“You killed his human form,” Mason says. “He’ll just take over a new body.”
“Not for a while,” my dad says. “It takes time for them to recover their power after leaving a host. We have some time before we have to worry about him again.”
“But the others won’t wait,” Jess says. “We need to come up with a plan.”
“What about the crowns you used to put them into stasis during your last fight?” My mom asks. “Any hope of getting them back?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Jess answers. “As far as we know they were destroyed when they went through the Tear to seal it, but I can’t say for sure, only God knows.”
“We need to gather all the Watchers,” Uncle Malcolm says. “We’re stronger when we’re together. Maybe we can figure out what needs to be done next.”
“Everyone is coming to the reception for Faison’s wedding tomorrow,”
Jess reminds them. “Maybe afterwards we can have a meeting.”
“It would be easier than trying to wrangle everyone together this evening,” Mason says, “and I think we all need some time to think things through before we let our emotions get the better of us.”
Aiden’s eyes flutter open and whatever else anyone says is completely lost to me.
“Hi,” I say, feeling warm tears of relief course down my cheeks as I look into his blue-green eyes.
“Don’t cry, beautiful,” Aiden says in a scratchy voice. “I’m all right.”
He lifts his hands to my face, examining it carefully. “Did they hurt you?”
I shake my head. “No, they didn’t hurt me.”
“She killed Levi if that’s any consolation,” Uncle Malcolm says as he comes to stand on the opposite side of the table from me to look at Aiden.
“How?” Aiden asks, shocked by this news.
“I tore his heart out,” I answer, wondering if I should feel any remorse for what I did because strangely enough I don’t.
Aiden shakes his head in amazement. “Is there any man’s heart you leave intact after you meet them?”
“Yours I hope,” I whisper.
“Mine least of all,” he whispers back. I realize Aiden is looking at me just like my father looks at my mother sometimes. It’s a look filled with love for everyone around us to bear witness to. “Every time I see you, it tears into a million pieces and has to reform inside my chest because it just can’t contain the joy I feel when I look at you.”
I smile. “That is so getting you a kiss.”
And in front of everyone, I kiss the love of my life.
It’s time they understood Aiden is mine, and I am his.
Not even the Princes of Hell will be able to tear us apart.
EPILOGUE
That night Aiden is allowed to sleep on our couch downstairs. He wanted to remain close to me in case there was trouble, and no one seemed in any mood to argue the point.