“Ouch, that sucks. But you can totally date him now, right? With my soul, you’re not hungry or whatever, right?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“Dude, let’s do it! Let’s get snazzed up and go to Cosmo and see if he’s there!” She hops to her feet and hurries over to her closet, swinging the door open. She starts pulling out outfits. “One of these will have to fit you!”
“Caddie.”
“You like him a lot, right?” She spins to cut me a look.
I nod, feeling my chest tighten. “Yeah…”
“Seriously. I’m not letting you let Prince Charming just get away because you’re afraid of hurting him. So get up off your sorry butt and help me pick out a sexy outfit for you to wear. Don’t give me that look!”
She pulls out a totally gorgeous strappy red dress with a slit up the thigh. I reach for it before I can stop myself, my fingers stroking the silky material. “This is so totally me.” Was that my voice, awestruck and girly? Oh slag. But…
“Try it on!” Caddie pushes me to her tiny half-bath and I fumble out of my clothes. The fabric of the dress stretches to hug my hips, showing just enough cleavage and just enough leg that I could probably get any self-respecting boy to look my way.
“Look good?” Caddie pops her head in the bathroom and sees me and a grin lights up her face. “Holy crapola, girl. You’re beautiful.”
Heat creeps up my neck, but I can’t help but agree with her. “Will you do my hair?”
“So this means you’re in?”
“Yeah.”
She squeals and does a little dance. “Awesome! Let’s do this!”
An hour later and all ‘snazzed’ up as Caddie put it, we bid Trista goodbye and take to the street. My refusal to go through a Portal twice in one day means I’ve talked Caddie into walking to Cosmo with me. She bounces along at my side, wearing a cute chained mini-skirt and lacy tank top, though why she’d want to walk in four-inch heels is lost on me. She talks a mile a minute and I find myself smiling as we reach Harvar Street. We get in line and wait. I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without a friend. This is nice.
She turns to me as it’s her turn to enter the building, shooting me a grin. “See you there,” she says on a laugh, then pushes through the door. It swings shut behind her and my stomach does a flip of nerves. There’s a flash of light, then the bouncer smiles and waves me in.
The Portal gleams at me, almost mockingly, as I step forwards and pull down the hem of my dress. My fingers brush the skin of my thigh and I blush and grin all at once. Damn, if Iofiel’s there, he’s gonna shit a brick. I look hot.
Flipping bangs out of my face, I close my eyes and step into the Portal. I float through nothingness, nausea gripping me for a moment’s time, and then I’m surrounded by music and laughter and coffee. I breathe in, open my eyes, and look around.
Caddie waves to me, a cup already in her hand, the steam rising. She gives a wink and I take note of two guys from school—the guy with the lime green hair and his buddy—ogle me. Tipping my chin up, I flash them a smirk and stride over to Caddie. I’ll admit I sashay my hips a little. Just to make them drool.
I glance across the room, hope making my chest hurt. Please, Iofiel, be here, just… But he’s not and my heart sinks. Caddie touches my arm. “Do you see him?” Her voice is muffled by the band playing on the stage, the booming base and the thudding pulse of drums. I shake my head and she gives me a half-hug. “He’ll come! Don’t worry. Let’s just have fun.”
We settle down at one of the front tables, so I can see anyone who comes through the Portal. My bag wiggles on the seat beside me and I open it. Sync floats out, her antennae a brilliant red.
Uh oh.
She turns away from me, staring at the stage, and if she was human, she’d so totally have her arms crossed over her chest in a petulant, little-kid-not-getting-her-way way. “What’s wrong?”
“Besides being left in a stuffy bag for hours on end?” Yep. Definitely miffed. How a robot her age can show such emotion is beyond me, but she’s always done it. She wouldn’t be Sync without it. “Are you outgrowing me, Luce?”
I blink at her, taken aback. “What?”
“Ever since you met Caddie, you’ve tossed me by the wayside. I’m always stuck in your bag or forgotten at home while you go to school! We used to be close, and now… You know, just because I’m a robot doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. How do you think I feel when you’re off parading with new friends and I’m left alone?”
I feel a stab of guilt. She’s right. I’ve been so caught up in the now that I really haven’t had time for her. Or made time for her. And that’s wrong, since she’s been my best friend since forever. The only friend I had for a long time. I glance between Sync’s angry cat-eyes and Caddie, who’s frowning. “I’m sorry, Sync…”
Sync sighs. “I’ve always been there for you. Always, Luce.”
“I know. I didn’t realize. I’ve been so busy that… God. I’m a jerk.” I put my head in my hands, mumbling through my fingers, “I’ll make it up to you, Sync. Really.”
She softens, the glow lessening to a light purple. “I know you will, Luce.” She floats up and nudges my face, her anger replaced by a small smile. I reach out and clamp her to my chest and she lets out a series of bleeps and zings away from me. “So what are we doing here, girls? Give me the scoop.”
“We’re boy hunting,” Caddie says proudly, her eyes gleaming like diamonds. “Apparently, Miss Lucy has a crush on a certain someone and I told her she can’t let her disabilities get in the way of love. So we’re hunting this guy down and Lucy’s gonna proclaim her love to him.”
I groan. “No, I’m really not.” Okay maybe. Depending on how receptive he is when he sees me. I’ll at least ask for a do-over date and hope he agrees. And this time, I’ll initiate the touching. My face warms at the thought.
“Aw, Luce! You’re gonna give Iofiel a second chance?”
“If he’ll give me one. But he’s not here and I haven’t seen him in a week or so. I’m kinda scared I chased him off and…” I look to Sync. She’s the only one who knows Iofiel is a cyborg the only one who knows he’s Freak. She was there when that big hound attacked him and she was the one I told my suspicions to.
“We’ll find him, Lucy,” Caddie says, taking a swig of coffee and mm’ing at the taste. “Even if we have to gallivant through the city at all hours of the night, shouting his name from the rooftops and buying miles of neon tube lighting to write your love letter.”
Sync and I roll our eyes.
The night rolls on, the band winding down. They’re playing acoustic love songs now, the singer an interesting looking guy with a long nose and floppy brown hair, crooning about how he’ll find his soul mate in the heat of the Indian summer. It’s just him and the guitar; the other band members have packed up and are having coffee.
The Portal’s been flashing on and off for an hour now. It’s getting later and people are headed home, so I’ve been ignoring it, but as I turn my head, I see a pair of shoulders in a very familiar leather jacket. My heart hitches into my throat and I stand up. “I’ll be right back, guys.” And dart towards him.
As I get closer, I can see the natural spike to his dark hair, the way his shoulders angle down and the way his thumbs are hooked through the belt loops. My heart’s thundering like a freight train and I clear my throat. Our eyes lock for an earth-shattering minute. Then he turns and strides through the Portal with the grace of a gazelle; here one minute, gone the next.
For a moment I just stand there, dumbfounded. Did he really just see me and take off? I glance down at myself, to the satiny red dress that accentuates my curves, to the knee-high black boots buckled up the sides.
I’d expected his jaw to drop. If not that, for him to at least give me a once-over and smile. Instead he turned away, like I was a stranger to him. Anger and confusion roil in my gut and with one last glance over my shoulder to my friends in a silent apology for ditching,
I push through the Portal myself.
Chapter 13:
Lucy
I slam through the door of the old Cosmo and out into the damp summer air. I cut a glance down the street, to descending shadows sliding away from me, and take off after them. I curse my boots for clicking with each step. There goes the element of surprise.
I feel a shimmer of magic trickle from the alley and I duck down after it. The shadow goes from two legged to four legged, solidifying what I’d only thought was true, and I’m running now, taking flight after the massive black hound sprinting down the street.
My breaths catch in my throat and I push faster, because he’s slipping away with each stride, his muscles bunching and billowing, long legs pumping and kicking up gravel. We skirt around town and I nearly get hit by a wayward hover car, the driver laying on the horn. I’ve got a stitch in my side and I can practically feel the blisters growing on my heel, but I can’t slow down.
The farther we get from the city, the darker it gets, no city lights to illuminate the way. Iofiel swings a hard left, careening into the forest. He can’t make this easy on me, can he? I puff after him, wishing I’d participated more in Phys Ed. My legs are burning with each step and I’m slowing down. My feet crash over underbrush and fallen leaves and…
I’ve lost him.
“Damnit!” I groan, bending over, hands on my knees as I gasp for breath. My lungs are burning and the muscles in my legs are twitching and hot. I feel like an overrun racehorse and sweat drips down the back of my neck and trickles between my breasts.
My breathing stills as I strain my ears, listening to the night sounds echo through the trees. There’s a soft crunch to my right and I tilt my head. Noise is a good thing. At least I know it’s not a Wraith coming to eat me. “Iofiel, I know you’re out there!” I announce, my voice carrying through the darkness.
Another crunch, closer. And I see the dim glow of red between the branches. He’s practically invisible in the darkness, solid black and standing there, but I can make out the beam of his cyborg eye casting light across his metal snout. “Lead me on some wild freaking goose chase, and for what? I dress up and get all pretty so when I see you, I can ask for a second chance, and you look at me and run? What the hell?”
The hound makes a soft sound. Is he laughing at me? And then the air shimmers, a wave of magic and heat, and Iofiel steps out from between the trees. I let out a breath and cross both arms over my chest, fixing him with a glare.
“Come with me,” he says, his voice low enough to send a chill down my spine. He turns and I really have no other choice. I want to talk to him and if he’s decided to quit running, well then. Here we go.
I don’t go lightly. I stomp over limbs and twigs, making a riot of sound before he looks at me over his shoulder. “It’s called being quiet. I don’t want to get caught, and you don’t either.”
I sigh and hurry after him. He leads me through the woods to a winding path that used to be a railway. The tracks are long and slatted and rusted from disuse. Up ahead is the station and Iofiel looks both ways before reaching for my hand. Then he seems to think better of it and backs up, but opens the door to the station, a gentleman though I’m hardly a lady.
A single, yellowed bulb swings from the ceiling, casting the floor in a dim glow. He shuts the door and the lock clicks and I feel a flicker of nerves bubble at my throat. Oh great, he’s some sort of serial killer and he’s planning my murder. But then he sinks against the door, as if to barricade it from intruders, and stares at me with such a mournful look on his face.
“How…did you know?”
“Last week. At the fight. That big cyberhound turned into a freaking man and I just put two and two together, I guess. Why did you run from me? I’ve been wanting to talk to you all week. I’ve stalked your usual haunts.”
“I’m not supposed to see you, Lucy. I’m not even supposed to look at you. I’m on a tight leash and one slip up and I’m done for.” He pretends to slit his throat with his finger. “The Fae will…well, I don’t know what they’ll do, but I’ve seen my Pack handle traitors before and it’s messy. Real messy.”
So that’s it? He’s just gonna dump me by the wayside? I feel a lump form in my throat, one part anger, one part selfishness, and I try and swallow it back down. “So…what does that mean? For us?”
He lifts a brow. “There’s an ‘us’ now?”
“…No. I guess not. I kind of screwed that up, didn’t I?”
He stares at me for a minute, calculating, curious.
“What?”
“What are you?”
Alarm beats in rapid succession in my head. I blink at him, wanting to shrug it off, wanting to act nonchalant, but isn’t this about coming clean? “Just about as human as you are.”
He smiles the barest hint of a smile. “I thought not.” He doesn’t dig, doesn’t ask. Just stands there, hands in his pockets, slouched a little. Is it bad that I just want to tear his mask off and stare at his face, at the exposed technology beneath the leather, to see Iofiel for who he truly is?
I shake my head. “I was afraid of hurting you,” I admit softly. “I can touch someone and take their soul.” His eyes widen and I shake my head. “Not their spirit, but like…energy. Life force. I’m a vampire without the fangs.”
I offer a weak smile. His expression doesn’t change. “I feel a roaring Need, a clenching hunger, and I can’t stop myself. Once I’ve touched someone, it’s hard to stop.” I drop my gaze. “I’ve hurt people. Killed people. I couldn’t let you become just another number.”
“But what are you?”
“I don’t know.” But I’m not the only one. Caddie’s one too, a freak, a mutant, but I don’t say anything, I just look at him. My heart flips and I step forwards, pulling my skirt down where it’s riding up on one thigh.
I memorize the bulge and flow of his robotic arm, perfectly modeled, like muscles without the skin. “I want to see your face.”
“Lucy.”
“You know my secret. I want to see yours.” My voice drops low, husky around the edges, and Iofiel visibly shudders. He takes a deep breath in through his nose, then slowly peels away the tooled leather mask hiding his face from me. It flutters to the ground and I stare into his eyes—both eyes, one perfectly human and the other perfectly not. The left side of his face is hollowed out, a mass of metal and wires and circuits interconnecting from his forehead to his chin. My heart skips a beat.
I step closer.
It’s scary, in a way…but oddly beautiful in others. I’m close enough to touch him now and I reach out, half-expecting him to flinch away, maybe be afraid of me because of my killing touch. But the Need is peaceful and my fingertips brush against warm metal. I slowly cup his cheeks in my hands. I can feel his breath on my face, our noses inches apart. All it would take is to lean up and…
My gut reaction is to back away, but instead I close the distance in one fell swoop. Our lips connect, melting together like chocolate and peanut butter. His breath, his mouth, is sweeter than that and my fingers slide around his neck, twining in his hair, dragging him—or maybe myself—closer.
His kiss is harder now, more driven, his teeth grazing my lip. His human hand slides down my side, fingers dragging fabric across my skin and I feel myself quake beneath his touch.
I break away, heart hammering, head swimming. Holy slag. I swallow and try and remember how to breathe. His lips twist slowly into a smile, wide and beaming. “How the hell am I going to stay away from you, Lucifer Swift?” he asks, his own voice thick with want.
“You aren’t.” Mine is wavering and excited and firm all at once. This is foolish. I’ll get us both killed, and for what? Selfish pleasure? “You can’t. Not now.”
“Not now,” he agrees, hands still lingering on my hips. “Has anyone ever told you you’re gorgeous?”
I can’t help the warmth that comes with the grin. Nobody’s ever made me feel like this: Giddy, excited, breathless. Alive.
“On
ly you.”
Chapter 14:
Iofiel
This is insane, my mind is screaming. I’m dead, so dead. I need to turn away, to cup her beautiful face in my hands and place one final kiss on those lips and tell her I can’t. This isn’t me, will never be me. I can never be what she needs. I can’t do this.
I can’t not do this. This is all I ever wanted. This is what I was made for, cyberhound law or not. My heart is so full it aches, literally throbs with each pounding beat of my pulse. I can still taste her, lingering on my lips, making them tingle and buzz with want for another kiss. I can feel warmth radiating out of her, my own personal furnace.
I’m greedy, giddy, drunk with Lucy.
I take a step back and look at her, tipping my head to the side. She’s watching me, those too-blue eyes flickering with excitement and nerves and maybe a twinge of fear. But she’s not afraid of me. Not afraid of the wires lacing through me like blue and red veins, not afraid of the clawed tips of my robotic fingers. She’s afraid of the situation. Of getting close and getting hurt. Of the threat of Lylan.
I should be. God, I should but, but I’m not.
I outstretch my cyborg hand to her, palm up, waiting. She doesn’t hesitate, her fingers clasping around mine. The sensors tell me how much pressure I’m using as I squeeze her hand for a moment, then tug her away from the door. “Come with me.” I walk through the station and she follows, my loyal puppy dog. Ironic, since I’m the one who can turn furry and four-legged.
“I should tell you to forget you ever met me,” I say softly as we walk, our steps scuffling on cement. “But I’m selfish. I’m so selfish, Lucy. I’ve come too far to let you walk away.”
“I don’t want to walk away.” Stubborn, beautiful girl.
I grin. “Good. But I meant it earlier, when I said we can’t get caught. My hard ass dad? He’s actually my Alpha. He’s not only in charge of the cyberhound Pack in this district, but he’s the top dog. All four Packs submit to him. I’m disobeying a direct order just to be here right now.”
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