Niko cleared his throat, pouring a drink for the silver haired demon, smiling politely as he said, “Lilith, I don’t believe you’ve met Cillian’s friend yet.”
Her eyes cut to me. “Should I care to?”
I sat up, my nails digging into the arm of the chair, and unfortunately for Cillian, his leg.
“Easy,” I heard him murmur.
“Now, now,” Niko snickered. “There’s no need to be catty. And especially not with this one.”
She smirked, her eyes dropping down the front of me and back up as though there wasn’t much to see. “I’m not being catty at all,” she said. “I only show claws to someone who is an actual threat.” She lifted the glass to her lips, and it exploded right before it got there. Red liquid splattered the front of her, her mouth hanging open as she gasped. Everyone froze, looking around until they realized Niko and Cillian were only watching me. Lilith too realized it, those eyes looking at me, violence shining bright in the depths of them.
I smiled sweetly at her. “Meow.”
***
My alarm was blaring as I pried my eyes open. It couldn’t be morning already. Groaning, I squinted at the lying red numbers mocking me.
7:00am.
I had only gotten to sleep at four, dragging myself up to bed after being dropped off, with a quick, “You did good tonight,” from my winged transportation. After my little stint with the glass, Cillian had announced we were leaving, much to my relief. I had prepared myself for his disapproval, but instead he had smiled ever so slightly, and told me I’d just made a new enemy.
Then he’d been quiet as a mouse, except for those last partings words, before he’d flown up into the sky, leaving me watching after him for a moment. A strange sense of contentment washed over me after hearing his approval, until I realized I didn’t give a rats-ass about his opinion, and stormed inside.
Pulling myself up into a sitting position, I rubbed at my eyes, wondering how in the heck I was going to manage to stay awake during school today. Cursing myself for insisting I be a part of Cillian’s investigation, I trudged over to the bathroom and groaned again at my reflection. My hair looked like a bird’s nest, and my eyes could rival a raccoon’s. I hadn’t even bothered to wash off the make up from last night, in spite of Mom’s constant mantra to ‘never go to sleep with make-up on’.
Scrubbing my skin raw, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, deciding I’d deal with it after school, and quickly put on my regular make-up before dressing and heading downstairs. If I didn’t hurry, I’d miss the bus, and then I’d have to walk the whole way. Normally that was fine when I’d had the proper amount of sleep. Today, the last thing I wanted to do was walk anywhere.
Grabbing my bag, I walked outside and stopped, my eyes blinking at the sight awaiting me.
“Morning.” A heart stopping grin met me, belonging to none other than the golden boy who was leaning against his car holding a paper cup in one hand.
“Tell me that’s coffee and I’ll love you forever,” I said, pulling the door shut behind me.
“Then I’m in luck,” he said with a chuckle, offering me the cup.
I walked down, taking it from him as I breathed in the rich aroma. “You are heaven sent,” I said, taking a sip.
Gabe smiled. “I try.” His eyes raked over me, a slight frown creasing his brows. “You look tired. Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” I lied. “And, ‘you look tired,’ is just a polite way of telling someone they look like crap.”
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to look like crap, Hope,” he said with a shake of his head, pushing off from the car. “I thought you might like a ride to school.”
“You have no idea,” I said, stepping back as he opened the passenger door for me. “You seem to have read my mind this morning.”
He shrugged, a slight blush colouring his cheeks. “I just wanted to make sure you were still holding up here all by yourself.”
“I’m certainly doing better now,” I murmured to myself after he’d shut the door, watching the way Gabe’s lean muscles showed beneath the white t-shirt he wore as he jogged around the front of the car to his side. Gabe was the complete opposite to Cillian Black in all ways - his manners, his good nature, his golden bronze looks - and I decided I rather liked that.
***
“Please tell me that you did in fact, come to school with the new guy this morning,” Emily said, crashing into the locker next to mine as I put all my books in there before heading to lunch.
“Where have you been all morning?” I asked, closing the door.
“Dentist,” she answered quickly, waving me off. “Who cares about me. Tell me about you.”
I shook my head with a roll of my eyes as we headed down the hall. “Yes, I came with Gabe. He showed up at my house this morning with a cup of coffee.” I tried to sound nonchalant about it, but I could feel the traitorous blush colouring my cheeks.
“Oh, Gabe, is it? Well then,” Emily said, her face splitting into a mischievous grin. “First I see you two at the party, and now this?”
I bit my lip.
“Is there more?”
I shrugged, grabbing a tray and getting into the food line. “We might have gone out for dinner too on Sunday night.” The rest of my Sunday flashed in my mind, and I quickly pushed those images back, including the rushing sensation in my stomach that accompanied them.
“No. Way. This is...”
I looked at her. She stared ahead, her mouth opening and shutting as though she couldn’t quite form the words.
“This is - amazing. That’s what this is,” she finished.
“Amazing? Why?”
“Because Lila and her cronies are going to lose their shit over him picking you.” She laughed evilly. I glanced around at the curious stares angled our way.
“Calm down there,” I said, lowering my voice. “No one said he was picking me. This isn’t the Bachelor. He just knew that I was home alone this weekend, so he brought me out for food. There was nothing...romantic about it.”
“Whatever. It’s still going to piss them off.” She stepped closer. “Did he try anything?”
My head snapped back, my spine straightening. “Anything like what?”
“Like, did he kiss you or anything?”
I scrunched my nose. “No! I told you, it wasn’t a date, date. It was just us going out for some food.”
She sighed. “Bummer.” Her eyes drifted over my shoulder, widening as a smile played on her lips. “Speak of the devil.”
I didn’t want to, but I glanced over where she was staring to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, Gabe had just entered the cafeteria. Lila was planted in front of him, twirling a piece of hair around her finger as she talked to him. I couldn’t see her face, but I could picture the flirty smile and bashful eyes she was sending his way. She had that sort of thing down to an art. I, on the other hand, didn’t know what to do around guys.
Liar, a voice in my head hissed. You did just find in Cillian’s arms last night.
I frowned, telling whatever that voice was to shut up, and turned back around to order my food. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear Cillian had some telepathic abilities and had put these thoughts into my mind. Come to think of it, that was probably exactly why I couldn’t stop thinking about him, or the way his lips had felt on mine. It was the only reasonable explanation, because I did not like Cillian, and he certainly did not like me. He was completely not my type. He was moody, and rude, and -
“Hey.”
I jumped, pulled out of my thoughts to find Gabe beside me now.
“Oh, hey,” I said, forcing a smile.
“You looked like you were lost in space there,” he chuckled.
“Yeah,” I said laughing. “Just going over some homework stuff in my head.” Oh man, I was bad at lying. I couldn’t even look at Emily to see her facial expression. “Is this your lunch period? I�
��ve never seen you in here.”
“Nah, I have fourth. I was just grabbing a drink before class.”
I nodded, suddenly feeling awkward with all the eyes I knew were on me. Gabe, on the other hand, didn’t seem to notice.
“I’ll see you later then. You want a ride home?”
“Uh...yeah, sure. I mean, yes, thank you.”
He smiled, a set of dimples showing that I hadn’t noticed before. He nodded a hello/goodbye nod to Emily behind me and walked away. Both of our heads swivelled to watch the swagger in his step as he left.
“I’m not even going to lie, I’m so jealous of you right now,” Emily murmured. “But also proud. It’s a proud jealousy. Like, I want you to have him, but I also wanted to knock you out of the way for a second there and kiss the ever-loving crap out of him.”
We watched as the doors swung shut behind him before looking at each other, and laughed.
Eleven
Good or Evil?
Cillian rolled his head slowly, letting the hot water from the showerhead ease the kink in his neck as his mind went over the information he’d learned. More importantly, the lack of it. He’d been avoiding Caleb for a couple of days now, but he could only manage that for so long before he got suspicious. The problem was, as soon as Caleb found out there had been another attack on Hope, he’d lose it. And not just, rant and rage over it. No, he’d start ripping off heads, literally, throughout the entire demon realm, if not the human as well, just to ease his anger.
While Cillian was always up for that kind of mayhem, he didn’t think it would do any good this time around. Someone was targeting Hope, and finding out who was behind it was the important part. Whoever it was, they were only doing so to either get at Caleb, or worse, to get at Hope herself. Which meant, there was someone, or some faction, who realized the power she held, untapped though it was.
Caleb would undoubtedly arrive at this same conclusion after he’d calmed down enough to gather his wits about him. Cillian was just afraid it would only be after the total destruction of the demon world before that happened. No, he needed to show Caleb that he’d made a little headway before telling him, so that Caleb would let Cillian handle the matter and not fall off the deep end. Except, Cillian hadn’t made any headway. He knew Niko had heard, if not specifically, a rumour of an attack, but he didn’t think the vampire knew much in the way of details. Now he was back at square one.
Shutting off the water, he stepped out, reaching for the towel he’d left on the sink, to find it was missing.
“Looking for this?”
Lilith stood in the doorway, his towel hanging from the tip of one of her long, black nails. Today she wore much the same outfit she’d had on at Le Chateau, except it was as red as blood this time, matching her lips.
Cillian raised his brows, holding out a hand. “Do you mind? I’m dripping everywhere.”
Her eyes ran down the front of him, halting in the only region that interested her. Lilith was as bad as they got when it came to using males and then tossing them aside. While they’d had - fun, in the past (over two hundred years at this point), he’d never been tempted to repeat it. He didn’t like his females cold, and Lilith was ice.
“Not at all,” she said, her lips turning up.
He growled, only eliciting a husky laugh from her as she tossed the towel at him. Wrapping it around his waist, he walked past her to the kitchen, making a note to up the wards in his condo. He’d forgotten she could shift like he could.
“Why are you here, Lilith?” He asked. “Am I to be the toy in your playground brawl?”
She rolled her eyes, sprawling along his couch in what he knew was a calculated position to show off her best assets.
“Don’t be absurd,” she said. “That child isn’t even on the same level as me.”
He gave her a hard look, letting all the menace he felt show in his eyes. A look he’d known lesser males to quake beneath. Lilith wouldn’t.
“That child is your princess.”
She looked at her nails, huffing. “So I hear. It was only after you’d left that Niko decided to tell me. Not that it matters,” she said, showing her teeth. “Had she’d stayed, I would have made an example of her.”
“And suffered dearly for it.”
She sniffed. “In any case,” she said, brushing him off in the way only Lilith could, “I came here with an olive branch to offer, sort-to-speak.”
“Is that so?”
She placed a flattened palm on her chest. “Cillian, you wound me. You sound as though I couldn’t be capable of doing a good deed.”
He shrugged. “Call me cynical.”
“Well, I’ll have you know, I am here with good intentions. I presumed you had been at Le Chateau last night in order to look for some information regarding an attack made on your precious Hope.”
His heart skipped at her last three words, but he ignored it, crossing his arms over his chest as he scrutinized her. His instincts said to not trust Lilith completely, and yet he had no leads of his own to work with.
“And what would you know about that?” He asked.
“I know hounds paid her a visit.”
“Who told you?”
“Let’s just say, some men have big mouths when they’re...excited.”
“Elaborate, and quickly before you wear on my nerves and I take you to Caleb himself. We’ll see how much you like his kind of interrogation.”
She smiled. “No need for foreplay, darling. As I said, a certain male told me. A blood sucking vamp to be exact. I don’t think Niko honestly knows anything about it, but this one made it sound like there’s another vampire of a similar strength to Niko who was hired to do the hit. He’s the one who got the hounds.”
“The seventh plain is heavily warded,” he pointed out. It was virtually impossible to get the demons native to that level out of it.
“He created a rift, or so I was told. I too pointed out the wards, since I know even a vampire of considerable strength wouldn’t be able to break them. Apparently, he has some sort of weapon that he used to cut a rift right into the wall, and connected it to where he wanted them. Unlike us demons who can shift through space, these rifts leave a trail. I figure, you find that rift, you find the person who got the hounds.” She shrugged, standing up and walking closer to him.
“And why would you be so willing to provide me with this information?”
She smirked, her eyes cold. “As you said, she is our princess.”
“Where is the vampire who told you this?”
She laughed, wiping an imaginary spot on the corner of her lip. “I had my fun with him once he became - useless. I must say, the vamps are always the tastiest. I do believe it’s the extra blood.”
After last period, I made a beeline for the washrooms before meeting up with Gabe. I walked in, glancing around to make sure I was alone, before going over to the mirrors to touch up my make-up and fluff my hair. I was in the middle of applying my lipstick, when the door burst open and Lila, Cheryl Dix, and Tiffany Haden walked in.
I froze, watching them in the mirror with wary eyes as they stopped behind me. Slowly, I straightened, turning to face them.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
Lila scoffed. “You think you’re top shit now, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Just because Gabe feels sorry for you, doesn’t mean you get to go around this school with your head held high like you’re one of us. You’re still just as big of a freak as before,” she sneered, pushing me.
I stumbled back, my hip crashing into the sink. “Do not, push me,” I warned.
She looked back at the other two and the three of them laughed. “Or what?” She asked, reaching out to push me again.
My hand snapped out, grabbing her by the wrist. I squeezed ever so slightly, my hands feeling hot on her skin. Her eyes widened, flying from where I held her to my face.
“Let go!” She s
hrieked.
“You listen here,” I said, stepping closer as I kept my hold. “I’m sick of your crap. I’m tired of you always finding ways to pick on me and Emily. It’s going to stop now, you got it? This is our senior year too, and we deserve to enjoy it just as much as the rest of you do. So, Lila?” I smiled slowly. “Fuck. Off.”
I let go, and she stumbled back, holding her wrist to her chest.
“You are a freak,” she gasped. She uncovered her wrist, and I could see my hand prints clearly there, her skin red and blistering, as though she’d been burned. I stared at the spot, thinking in my head of taking it back so no one else would see, slowly removing each finger print.
The Dark Princess (The Balance Series Book 3) Page 13