She looked up through her lashes. “Yes, you are.” She picked at the fingernails on her left hand. “I thought maybe you liked me from the way you’d been staring at me all week. There is something here. It’s undeniable no matter how much I try. Something draws me to you like a magnet, and all I can think about is you. I feel like I’m going out of my mind, but I can’t stop this attraction. Like my mind won’t rest until I can get close to you. And yes, before you ask I don’t have a filter. I just say whatever it is that I’m thinking.” She ducked her head away as if embarrassed.
I turned my head to look out the passenger window. It was a clear night. The full coin of the silver moon cast its bright light onto the expanse of fields covered in a layer of glittering snow. They led to the dark looming mountains beyond. Only one vehicle passed by since Emma pulled over.
It was undeniable for me too, and a force unlike any I’d known. I wondered if the gods were laughing from up high as they cast temptation before both of us like bait on a hook.
Emma continued. “When I kissed you, I sensed you wanted more but then you stopped.”
An abrupt snort halted her words. Travis then released a whooshing breath and went back to a steady respiration.
I could hear Emma resume picking at her cuticle. “Is it me?” Her voice came out strangled.
My hand raised of its own accord to the soft skin on her jawline. “No. Of course, it’s not you.”
She furiously tucked her hair behind her ear. “Oh man, this is embarrassing. I just met you and already I’ve thrown myself at you and been rejected. It’s not like I haven’t dated before it’s just,” she cocked her head to the side. “I feel such an intense attraction to you. Like you’re a magnet built just for me and I can’t help but be drawn to everything you are. Even if I’m not sure what that is.”
I dropped my hand and held my hands together in my lap to keep from touching her again. “Emma. You’re right. I am separate. I can’t be with you.”
The word came out just above a whisper. “Why?”
I closed my eyes. “Because as a servant, I am meant to protect humanity from the forces of the Stygian. I am not to belong to anyone or anyone to me. I belong to the gods until they deem I am done with my mission.”
“You mean until you’re dead.” It came out flatly, not as a question at all.
The word no was on my lips, but I stopped before answering.
Tell her. Tell her that one day you’ll earn your soul back and then you can belong to anyone. Even to her.
I couldn’t do that to her. I could earn my soul back tomorrow or the gods could deem me worthy in fifty years. Either way, it wasn’t fair to keep her waiting. She had her path and I had mine. Our meeting was by chance and my mission was to secure the Propheros.
“When I have vanquished the soul eater, you’ll return to your life and forget all about this.” I tried to smile but it felt like ice on my face.
Emma snorted. “Vanquish. You sound like one of the guys in my romance novels.” She ran both hands over her hair to tug at her ponytail, tightening it, and took a deep breath before exhaling dramatically. “Okay, officially hitting the reset button on my crazy run-away emotions. It’s probably all the stress of being attacked by evil spirits and demons making my feelings all cuckoo toward you.” Then she grinned at me. “It just doesn’t help that you are wickedly attractive.”
“Wickedly attractive?” I asked, unsure how wickedness could possibly be attractive.
“Oh yeah,” she said with a seductive, sly smile. “Those baby blue eyes set against the chiseled jaw and slightly curled hair? I have never seen a real man with a face sculpted like a Greek god.”
It was like she was trying to make me blush. Knights of the Light didn’t blush.
Seeing my discomfort, her grin widened. “You also got a warrior body, all lithe muscle with some bulk and build, but not too much.” Her eyes darkened as she ran them over my body. “Perfectly shapely. And did you know you have this little perfect dimple right here?” She reached out a slim finger to press at the middle of my chin where I was aware of a permanent indent. “I mean, total babe-magnet.” She crossed her arms, relaxing back in her seat with a light chuckle. “Krystan says I read too many bodice rippers, and right now, I’m beginning to see what she’s talking about. But for the record, I don’t feel sorry one bit for trying to take a pass at you.”
No one had ever described me in such a way. My Master only served to point out my failings so that I could better strengthen them. Never had I received such praise, no less for features that I viewed as a disadvantage.
Her grin widened and she released her arms. “Handsome, you better stop blushing because I might try to kiss you again.” With that she pulled a lever to lean her seat back several inches and nestled up to the driver’s side window. Crossing her arms across her body, she dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes. “Wake me in fifteen minutes. I’ll have some more driving juice in me then, and I’ll be better able to fight my urge to kiss you silly.”
The pounding of my heart from the image was the drum that kept me more than alert for the next hour while Emma and Travis slept.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Who orders a salad at a diner?” Travis asked in disgust.
Emma shot a scathing look at Travis from where she sat next to him, in the bright red booth. The garish seats squealed whenever I moved. The sun had not yet revealed itself from behind the mountains, but the sky grew lighter by the minute. Thankfully, the diner only had a handful of patrons this early in the morning. Though I tried to convince my companions we could eat in the car or out in a nice snow-covered patch of field, they both dismissed my suggestions.
Emma glibly answered Travis’s question. “A guy who’s got a body that won’t quit and who can vanquish demons from hell.” She turned and gave me a cheery smile over parroting the use of my term ‘vanquish’ last night. I tried not to smile, but it was impossible.
“Maybe you should try a salad sometime yourself, Trav,” she drawled out the nickname.
Instead of shooting back yet another barb, Travis rolled his eyes as he took the first bite of a burger so big it barely fit in his hands. Grease dripped down his wrists and onto his plate with alarming speed. A tomato slipped out and plopped on the plate next with a loud splat. I suddenly felt queasy.
With his mouth still full, Travis asked, “So how much longer until we get to your safe house?”
I had to break my focus away from the half-masticated bread and cow-parts in his mouth. The sight of Travis eating was fascinating as it was revolting. Concentrating on my own food, I attempted to brush off any feelings of self-consciousness. This was the first time I had ever eaten at the same table with others.
“About half a day,” I replied to his question.
I let Emma sleep for an hour before waking her up, putting my coat over her body for warmth when she began to shiver in her sleep. She could only drive for another hour before she became too groggy. She cursed herself for sleeping with her contacts in. She kept mumbling something about ‘damn vanity,’ before she pulled the car over to shake Travis awake. He managed to drive for a whole forty-five minutes before he started vigorously complaining about hunger pains.
Emma tucked into her grilled chicken sandwich more delicately, but pieces of lettuce, tomato and avocado as well as the large hunk of chicken kept slipping out of the sandwich and occasionally out of her mouth. She kept furiously looking to see if I was watching whenever it happened. Instead, I kept my attention to my salad. I had silently blessed my food and theirs even though they’d already started eating.
It was strange to eat with other people, especially coupled with casual conversation. At the Temple, I ate alone in my quarters while everyone else took their meals in the dining halls.
It took less than ten minutes for Travis to finish his burger and fries. He slouched down in the booth moaning and holding his stomach. “I think I ate too fast.”
Our waitr
ess, an-ample bosomed, dark-skinned woman with braids, came over with a hand perched on her hip and a knowing smile. “Didn’t save room for pie did you, honey? That’s a shame because we have chocolate silk, cherry, and a special honey custard pie today.”
Travis’s face brightened. He straightened in earnest only to contract in pain once again. “Give me a minute.” He grasped the booth and propelled himself out of the seat, headed straight to the restroom. The waitress walked off chuckling.
I stared after him. “Do you think he needs my assistance?”
“Definitely not,” Emma said in thinly veiled disgust. “I’m sure he’ll be out in fifteen minutes, asking for two pieces of pie. One of these days his binge eating is going to catch up to his skinny frame. He’s already gotten a paunch started in the last couple years. I remember in high school he once had three pizzas delivered to the cafeteria and ate all of them in one sitting for a five-dollar bet. The idiot spent far more on those pizzas than he got in the end.” Putting down the second half of her sandwich, she asked, “Did you want to split a piece of pie?”
My instincts told me to agree with anything she wanted. “No, thank you. I don’t eat such things.”
Her eyes swept up and down me over her coffee cup. “Yeah, I figured.”
I shifted in my seat causing it to obnoxiously squeak again. “The body is a temple. It is important to feed it with respect and nutrients.” I was talking too much. Why was I still talking?
She straightened in her seat, setting her mug on the table. “Oh my god, you haven’t had pie before in your life?”
“Well no…”
“What about cake? Or ice cream? I live for ice cream. I’ve been in a serious long-term relationship with Ben and Jerry since I was twelve.”
My mouth pulled down into a scowl. Never before had it bothered me that I hadn’t tried these things, but it was one more brick in the wall between Emma and me. Also, I didn’t know who Ben or Jerry were, but I automatically didn’t care to ever meet either of them.
“What about pizza?”
I shook my head.
Then the smile ever so slowly slid off her face. “Did you even drink that wine you bought?”
I blinked.
She burst out in incredulous giggles. “Oh my god. You haven’t ever drank alcohol, have you? Here I thought you were a funny guy buying all these different types of wine and that you were maybe on a mission to try them all to pin down what you really liked.” She frowned then flattened her palms on the table. “Wait, you lied to me. For a guy who makes such a big deal out of lying to others, you lied to me about why you were there.”
My back and shoulders tensed. “No, I did not lie to you. I was letting you lead the conversation.”
She leaned in, setting an elbow on the counter to point at me as she gave me a glare. “It’s called a double standard bucko, and you totally did lie.” Then she threw both hands up in the air. “Finally, something about you that isn’t perfect. I can take this and run with it until I don’t think about attacking you every second of the day.”
Emma’s smile faltered when she saw the intensity on my face. I tried to relax and clear my features, but I knew bitterness and disappointment were evident. I hated being so transparent. “Good.”
Travis slipped back in the booth next to Emma. “Pie time?’
#
Travis was slouched, moaning in his seat, two plates with vestiges of whipped cream pushed just out of his reach. Impatience prickled at my scalp. I didn’t like lingering here for so long. We were putting the diners in danger the longer we stayed.
As Travis demolished the cherry and honey custard pie pieces, I took a few moments to tap into my inner flow. What I imagined to be a cool flowing waterfall now felt like a rushing river full of choppy, tumultuous waves. Part of me wondered if the soul eater had done something to me in the liquor store, some kind of curse or spell to block me from my own powers. After seeing it come to flesh, I couldn’t rule out any possibility.
Just as I was about to announce we needed to leave, someone slipped into the seat next to me, dressed in all black. She turned to speak into my ear so only I could hear. “The back corner table. Come alone.”
Then as quickly as the woman appeared she was gone and heading for a table back by the restroom. She joined a man wearing all black as well. Both looked down into their mugs, but their lips were moving.
Travis and Emma blinked at me, expectantly.
“Who was that?” Emma asked.
I shook my head and got out of the booth. “Stay here.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I took slow measured steps across the diner, taking my time examining the eatery for impending danger as well as the couple sitting at the table in back. Both were fit with the builds of long-distance runners. Lines of age gathered at the corners of their eyes. Deep-set lines framed the woman’s mouth. The untrained eye might place them in their early forties, but I’d put them somewhere in their fifties. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a braid that dropped just past her shoulders. The man’s black hair softly curled over his forehead. Gray crept up his sideburns streaking into his hair. I recognized the utilitarian, tactical cuts of their black, form-fitting clothes.
To everyone else, the couple might have seemed perfectly normal, but immediately I recognized them as panthers sitting amongst unsuspecting, grazing antelope. They’d done well to keep out of my sight until they’d chosen to reveal themselves.
When I reached their table, I stood for several long moments.
“Please sit,” the man gestured toward the chair in front of me when he saw I wasn’t going to make the first move. The woman’s eyes were sharp and overly familiar with my face, like I was a long-lost friend she was pleased to see.
“You are from the Order of Veritas,” I said, still not moving.
“How did you know?” The woman asked, pride in her voice, like I had pleased her.
“The stitching on your sleeve.” A small white circle with a cross in it was stitched at the wrist of their left sleeves. Anyone else would have thought it was a clothes brand insignia. But my Master had educated me on the five Orders. This was the first time I’d met anyone from outside my own Order.
“Very good.” the man smiled, revealing perfect white teeth in a way that would disarm most people. He was no doubt aware of this effect.
“And you are from the Order of Luxis,” the woman supplied. “Please sit. We wish to speak with you. I am Regina and this is Phillip.”
I glanced over my shoulder, still unsure.
“Your friends will be fine,” Phillip reassured. “We mean them no harm.”
Friends. What a strange concept, but I guessed that was what Travis and Emma were becoming. Perhaps the more fitting word was companions. Either way, I’d never spent this much time with civilians. All the same, I didn’t care to have my back to them or the door, so I pulled out the chair and placed it at an awkward angle so I could keep them in my peripheral sight.
We sat for several long minutes, not speaking or moving. It would appear we were waiting, but it was a meeting of predators. We assessed and observed each other as if able to read the weaknesses and strengths of the opposing party.
Regina broke the silence first. “We’ve been following your trail since you defeated the Crib.”
It took all my will to not visibly react. My Masters warned me against the deceit of the other Orders. I needed to stay calm, alert, and detached from whatever they tried to infect me with.
She continued in a hushed voice. “It was all over the news. The media is trying to rationalize the scene as escaped zoo animals who ravaged each other to death, but we all know at this table that those were demons who should have never made it to this plane.”
I hadn’t bothered to look at the few television sets since we arrived at the diner. My job was to protect, not to clean up. Most of the spirits disappeared leaving only their victims as evidence. Demons were a rarity and usually appeared one at a t
ime, not in a pack. The Crib were only the third demonic entity I’d encountered on earth, though I was schooled in demonology enough to identify what they were. In the other two incidents, I had left the carcasses to the elements to erode with time.
“What do you want?” I asked, wanting to cut to their point.
Phillip reached over to cover Regina’s hand. They were wearing matching silver wedding bands. Celtic-like knots encircled each ring; low-level power humming off them. They must be sigils from their Order, fueled by belief and observance.
Phillip said, “We couldn’t know for sure before, but now we are. We know you are the one we have been searching for all these years.”
Regina said, “You see, twenty-four-years ago, our baby was stolen from our Temple.”
Phillip’s distinguished jaw line flexed as he clenched his teeth. “We suspected the Order of Luxis. We even stormed their Temple to search for our missing child, but we never found him.”
My stomach churned as I continued to grow more uneasy.
“Then one of our Elder prophets had a vision. He told us the fall of the dark children would herald our son’s return and that is when we would find our child again.”
Regina’s hand flipped over to squeeze Phillip’s, and her smile was full of hope and excitement. “Well?” Regina asked after several long minutes passed and I did not respond.
I leaned in, and they mirrored my movement to hear my quiet, steady words. “I am very sorry disappoint you, but I am not your son.”
Regina’s smile faltered while Phillip continued to study me with those intense green eyes. He looked at me as though he were reading a book, but I knew he wasn’t reading me correctly at all. Not the way Emma did. He was only seeing what he wanted. Phillip said, “The Order of Luxis stole you from us. They were in such violent disagreement with our Order, they sought to punish us.”
Their sincerity made them all the more treacherous. Perhaps they’d been fed these lies from a higher power at Veritas and believed it themselves.
Prophecy Girl (The Five Orders Book 1) Page 6