by Wendy Knight
He stared at me like I'd grown two heads. And to him, I probably had. The sweet little girl he'd grown up with would never have played with weapons or decapitated demons.
But she wasn't me. Not really.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Alec
I'd just been attacked by demons. Demons that looked human but not quite. Like, zombie humans, maybe. Or someone with a really bad migraine. I don't know. I wasn't thinking clearly.
And I'd just seen Navi pick up a broken piece of door and throw it hard enough to impale that migraine-zombie-person-demon thing in the face. My Navi, the one so sweet she wouldn't even tell our high school math teacher his addition was wrong because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
And now she was talking about weapons and fighting and shoes and I couldn't make her be the person in my mind she had been before. She was different.
Scary.
And I was still in love with her.
I pulled into her parking lot and checked the rear view mirror for the twenty-fifth thousandth time. "How fast do those things move?"
She looked over her shoulder, too. So I wasn't just being paranoid. "They're fast, but not truck-fast. We have a bit."
"Okay. Get your shoes… and stuff. Then I have questions, Navi."
She nodded and slid out of the truck, padding barefoot and adorable up to her door. "Come on, Alec."
"If you can fight them off, why can't I?" I asked as I followed her in.
"Well… technically you could. You can't kill them, though. It's just really dangerous, Alec. It isn't worth it. One claw into you and…" Her face paled as she stared up at me, and for the first time in all this, Navi looked scared. "They'll take your soul, Alec."
I didn't want Navi to be scared. I wanted my brave Navi back. "Grab your stuff. Let's go."
"Hey there, Navi. I was wondering where—Alec?" Terrie dropped the magazine she was holding as she stared at me. "What are you still doing together?"
"Bryson got himself into some trouble." Navi didn't even hesitate as she breezed through the apartment. Her shoulder had started to bleed again through the bandages. I watched Terrie to see if she'd think it was weird that Navi had massive war injuries, but Terrie was too busy glaring at me to notice.
That, or this wasn't an unusual thing for them.
"I thought you agreed, Alec," she hissed as soon as Navi left the room. I seriously, seriously didn't have the energy to defend myself while waiting for something to come exploding through the door to kill me.
"So apparently you talked to Konstanz?" I asked, not taking my eyes from the window.
"Yes I did, and she said you agreed to stay away from her."
"I do agree, Terrie. I'm keeping my distance."
"Yeah." She glowered harder. "I can see how you're keeping your distance."
"What's that supposed to mean? I haven't touched her!"
She shook her head and tossed her magazine to the side, storming out of the room. I paced, alternating between worrying about Navi and watching the door.
Bryson appeared next to me.
"You're not supposed to be here." I kept my voice low so that Terrie wouldn't hear me. Heaven knows that's all Navi needed—someone else to protect if Bryson happened to open her eyes.
"I thought Navi would like to know that her ghosts are okay." He floated past me toward Navi's room.
"Bryson…" I growled, but he ignored me. Just like Navi ignored him when she came around the corner. She saw him—I know she did because her eyes narrowed just slightly and her shoulders tensed, but she walked right through him.
"Let's go, Alec." She called over her shoulder, "Terrie, I'll talk to you in a bit."
I led the way to my truck, eying her bag suspiciously, wondering what she kept in there. Bryson appeared as soon as she buckled her seat belt.
"I told you to stay out of there, Bryson." Her tone was colder than when she'd told me to go to hell. Did he really not realize how important her roommates were to Navi and how much danger he was putting her in?
"I was trying to help." Bryson threw his hands in the air, sort of going right through the truck's window. "I know how worried you are about Elizabeth!"
I focused on the road, because if I didn't know better, that thing was close. I swear I could feel it. I had no clear destination in mind. Just to drive. To escape. To run away from this nightmare that Navi dealt with on a daily basis.
Navi sighed. "I'm sorry, Bryson. I do appreciate knowing she's okay. I just can't afford to have someone else to protect. I'm already trying to be in three places at once." She twisted so she could see backward. She felt it too. The demon was coming.
"I'm just scared, Navi. I'm doing the best I can," Bryson said quietly. "I thought you'd want to know."
"I can feel Elizabeth. I can tell when she's in trouble. But thank you." She slid around in her seat, running a hand through her hair. I risked a glance before I went back to watching the road. Navi was completely exhausted. There were circles under her eyes.
She caught my look and smiled. "It's okay, Alec. I'll heal as soon as the moon rises."
I nodded. "Where am I going, Angel?"
I snapped my mouth shut. I hadn't meant to call her that. It had just happened and now I didn't dare look at her to see if she was furious or only hurt.
"Inland. The farther from the water they get, the slower they move." Her voice was so soft I could barely hear her.
"She's not your Angel anymore, Alec." Bryson appeared next to my ear. He was getting good at this popping up all over thing. I did not enjoy it.
"Shut up, Bryson."
I finally had to stop for gas a little before seven p.m. The sun was setting low in the sky. Navi was having an intense discussion with Elizabeth that I was pretty positive involved me, and Bryson watched it all while he floated back and forth through the gas pump. "What's going on?" I asked when she got back in the truck. It was the first time we'd spoken in hours. All my questions were not getting answered, not with Bryson there all the time, hissing in my ear.
"Well." She winced. I wasn't going to like what was coming, clearly. "See, I've been waiting for the moon because I'd have power to kill the one asuwang chasing you, and somehow completely forgot that the sea witch will probably send a whole lot more of them after you as soon as it's dark. Especially if she realizes you're important to me."
I almost wrecked the truck.
Navi sighed. "I'm too tired to skate around this issue anymore. Alec always has and always will be very important to me. There, I said it. We all knew it anyway. Now we have to figure out—"
"I'm important to you?" I asked. My voice shook and I didn't dare look at her for fear she'd see the hope in my eyes. She'd just told me that a whole herd of demon things were about to be unleashed on me and all that mattered was that I was important to her.
"Yes, Alec. Obviously." Her voice was as quiet as mine in the silent cab, but it didn't shake. "So somehow we have to keep you safe while I meet with Death and try to figure out how to help Bryson."
"Why can't I just go with you to meet this—this Death?" I asked, although it was pretty much the last thing on earth I wanted to do. Ever.
"You can't. No mortal can look into the face of Death and survive. But, I think we have a plan." She nodded enthusiastically. "My mama."
"Your mom is our plan? I'm not sure—" Too slowly, I remembered that Navi's mom was the same thing she was—not just a regular probation officer like I'd always believed.
Navi watched realization dawn on my face and nodded. "Elizabeth went to her earlier. They're driving toward us now. We should meet them within the hour. Elizabeth will stay with you and my parents. This far inland, it will be hard for any escaped asuwangs to catch your scent, except the one that's still following us. Then Bryson and I will meet Death and my army will try to stop the demons when they come out of the sea witch's doorway." Navi took a deep breath. "Yeah. Easy peasy."
"Navi, nothing in that statement is easy."
Her face fe
ll and I felt like I'd kicked a puppy. "But easy won't save my life, right? I'll be okay, Navi. Just try to figure out what's going on with your—your Death friend."
She snorted.
"We need to have a conversation, Alec. Because if you're hitting on Navi while you have a girlfriend—" Bryson started.
I cut him off. "I don't have a girlfriend."
Navi's eyes looked like big dark pits in her pale, tired face. " You—you haven't been spending weekends with your blond girlfriend?" This time it was her voice that shook.
I know there was a demon chasing us, but at that point in the conversation, I was unable to drive and talk. I slammed on the brakes and pulled the truck off the side of the road, turning in my seat so I faced her. "I don't have a girlfriend."
"You haven't always secretly hated brunettes?" she whispered, biting her lip and fingering the tears in her jeans. Pink stained her cheeks.
"Navi, look at me."
Slowly, she raised those gorgeous eyes to meet mine. And I was lost. "I haven't been able to function without you. I've been working eighty hours a week and spending the weekends with my little brother. There's no girlfriend. There's no getting over you. And given that I've had an obsession with your hair"—I reached out, tugging a strand free from her messy braid to slide through my fingers, something I thought I'd never get to do again—"since the day we met, I most definitely do not hate brunettes."
"But I—"
This. This thing I had to say might possibly be the scariest thing I'd ever said in my life. I knew what Konstanz said. I knew how intense and volatile Navi and I were. I knew how scary her life was. It didn't matter.
"Navi, I know you hate me, and you have every right to. I know I don't deserve another chance with you—not after I screwed it up twice. But I'm still in love with you and dammit, I'm going to fight for you. Until you take me back or I die trying."
Her mouth opened and closed like the most adorable fish on the planet. Her eyes filled with tears and she leaned back, blinking and rubbing with the long sleeve of her pink shirt. "But you—you hurt me, Alec. A lot." She was whispering again, which I was realizing she did when she was trying not to let her voice shake.
"I know, Angel. And I'm so, so sorry. I can't ever make that up to you. But I can promise I won't do it again. I can promise to beat the hell out of anyone who tries."
The barest hint of a smile broke as a tear traced its way down her cheek.
"Navi, he hurt you. Way more than you hurt him." Bryson glared at me and I wondered if, even though he was in love with her roommate, he might not still have a thing for her, too.
But she didn't seem to notice. Navi, the girl I'd realized was stronger than Hercules, looked up at me like a small, lost kitten. "Is—is that true?"
"No. It's not true and he knows it. He lives with me. He knows how much pain I've been in."
Bryson threw up his hands. "I was trying to protect both of you! How do you not see that? I could see how much you hurt each other. Hate is easier than pain, isn't it? I was trying to protect you both!"
I could only blink at him. In slow motion, I thought back to how he'd tried to hide Navi's presence from me, but how he was always asking if I was okay, if I was forgetting. How he'd picked me up from the bar when I'd get too slammed to drive home. I guess in some crazy ass way, what he said made sense. But that didn't mean it was right.
Elizabeth delicately cleared her throat from behind Navi, standing mostly in the door. "Your mother arrives, Navi. And darkness falls soon." She turned that milky blue gaze on me and smiled encouragingly, like there was something hidden she and Navi shared that I didn't know—something about me. And if she hadn't been a ghost, I would have hugged her. "Perhaps this conversation would best be continued when things are not so tense."
Navi sniffed, sucked in a breath, and nodded, pulling that bad-ass persona back on. "Okay. Okay, we'll revisit this in the morning. When we're all still alive."
A sleek black jaguar pulled up in front of us and her dad got out. He was a huge man, towering over my six foot frame. Now I understood why—he had to be to survive their line of work. One day I would ask Navi how he'd survived with his eyes open so that he was hunted 24/7. Because I intended to survive the same way.
If she'd have me.
"Hi Dad." Navi threw herself into his arms like a little girl, hugging him tight. By that time, her mom was there too—an older version of Navi. Slight build, barely over a hundred pounds, and yet I could see the bands of steel running through her veins. She was undefeatable. Just like her daughter.
"Alec." Joanna said as I approached them. "It's been a while. Welcome to our world."
I chuckled. "Thanks."
"Joanna hasn't fought for years, but she still trains. You've got nothing to worry about."
"Thank you." I handed my keys to Navi. "Be careful, Angel."
She glanced at her parents, blushing again, and grabbed my hand, leading me back to the truck. "Alec, I don't—I don't know what will happen. Tonight, tomorrow, with us, with the world. But in case I don't make it back, I need you to know. I never stopped loving you, either. Please stay safe." She leaned up on her toes and brushed the barest of kisses across my lips. It took everything I had to not pull her against me and keep her there.
Instead I had to stand back and watch as she drove off in my truck to face hell alone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Navi
Where Elizabeth was wise and comforting on the path through the lava tunnels to meet Death, Bryson was scared and very talkative. "What if he tries to steal my soul?"
"He's not going to steal your soul," I said. "He doesn't want your soul."
Bryson hung his head. "Maybe he should want my soul. I have a good soul. Konstanz says so all the time."
I smiled half-heartedly at him as I stopped to ghost-pat his shoulder. "I know, Bryson. I share a room with her."
"It doesn't bother you, does it? I don't know if we ever asked—does it bother you that we're together?"
I nearly choked. "No, Bryson. It does not bother me." Quite the opposite, really. About as far opposite as one could get.
"It's not that I don't still have feelings for you—"
I started walking again, faster this time. "I don't have time for this."
At that exact moment, my ghosts were fighting. Without me. I'd warned them—I couldn't be there. They wouldn't think I'd abandoned them. But there was no Elizabeth with them. No me. They were facing the demons alone and it killed me. I felt like my insides were all squiggly and messed up, being here while they were out there.
"Right. Sorry."
Thank the sweet heavens he fell silent then, and we walked through the paths to hell in peace.
"Navi. I didn't expect you." Death rose up in front of us like one of my ghosts, and I, in all my demon-hunter strength and courage, screamed like a little girl and danced around in a circle. His red eyes crinkled in amusement. "I take it you didn't expect to see me, either."
I put a hand over my rapidly beating heart, trying to keep it in my chest. "Well I did, but not right here." I motioned to Bryson with my other hand. "I need your help."
Bryson made a sound that was a cross between a scream and a whimper and floated backward so fast I thought he was going to escape clear out of the cave. Right. I forget that to people not used to seeing Death on a regular basis, he could be a little scary. Heck, even to people used to seeing him on a regular basis, he was scary. Evidenced by my little freak out. "Bryson! Bryson, come back. It's okay! He's friendly!"
"I serve tea," Death said helpfully.
I smiled over at him, but Bryson only stared in horror and refused to come closer. "Bryson," I started, trying not to be impatient because he was totally justified in his fear but I so didn't have time for his panic attack right now. "You knew we were coming to see him. It's not like he's here to take your soul."
"I'm not?" Death asked with a wicked gleam in his red eyes.
"You're not helping."
I twitched my lips at him, trying to decide whether to laugh or scowl. "Bryson, I already told you, Death can't take you if you're in limbo."
"He's in limbo? Then how is he here?" Death gave up trying to lure Bryson closer and instead turned to me. And then I heard the hell hounds coming.
"Oh dear." I shot Death with my best pleading eyes. "They'll scare Bryson to death—er—to… to I don't know."
Death sighed, raising two fingers to his mouth. An ear-splitting whistle nearly shattered my skull and the ground stopped shaking. As much as I adored those dogs, now was not the time.
"Thank you." I nodded, couldn't figure out why I was nodding, and quit abruptly. "So here's the thing. Bryson was attacked by an asuwang. There are no physical wounds on his body but he can't get back in. And he opened the eyes of my…" Alec. What to call him. The boy I loved and had left in danger? The boy who broke my heart repeatedly and I didn't seem to care? "My friend, who is now a target. We can't figure out how to get his soul back in his body."
Death lost all hint of friendliness, crooking a finger at Bryson and glaring when Bryson still didn't move. "Come here," he snapped, and against his will Bryson's ghost self slid forward to Death's hands. I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. I knew Death wouldn't take Bryson if it wasn't his time, but maybe it had been his time and something had gone wrong?
"The asuwang—did you kill it after the attack?" Death asked, somewhat distracted as he spun Bryson in a slow circle, scrutinizing him like the world's most terrifying tailor.
I nodded, relieved to know why I was nodding this time. "I think so, yes."
Death straightened, eying me. "You think so?"
I winced and ran a hand through my tangled hair, working out knots instead of meeting his gaze. "Well, I didn't exactly see Bryson. He was pretty sure I killed it though."
Now it was poor Bryson's turn to be under that gaze. Again. "How sure are you?"
Bryson finally found his voice. "I'm pretty sure, but there was a lot going on."
I closed my eyes. "Holy crap." Three asuwangs had escaped me. I'd killed the one that had attacked Bryson—or so we thought. But what if the one that had attacked Bryson was really one of the other two? "Is there a piece of his soul missing?" I whispered.