Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

“With foxes, we must play the fox.” �" Thomas Fuller

Ace

I may have been saved from answering Ronnie’s question, but it was probably the worst way I could have imagined.  Rye was walking towards us, still a ways away, but getting closer with every step.  My body should have told me he was near before he even said something.  I should’ve smelled him, heard him; I should’ve sensed him in general.  But I didn’t.  All of my focus was on my slayer, sitting in the sand in front of me.

“Yeah, I found him,” I heard Rye say into his phone.  I casually stood in between him and Ronnie, blocking her from his view.  Hopefully.

“What are you doing here?  I thought you were back on the boat with everyone else.” I squared my shoulders and made sure his eyes held mine so he wouldn’t see Ronnie.  He could smell her though, and that’s something I couldn’t control.

“Everyone’s wondering where you went.  You just disappeared so I came looking for you.” He was coming to a stop in front me and looked over my shoulder, a grin forming on his demonic little mouth.

S**t.

“And who might you be?” He stepped around me, shrugging off the hand I placed on his shoulder in order to stop him.  I turned so I was facing the two of them, keeping my eyes on Rye.  He held his hand out to Ronnie, and when she took it, he pulled her to her feet.

“I’m Veronica.” Her eyes shot to Rye’s upper arm, where his tattoo was �" an inverted pentagram in flames �" and I could see her body tense.  Dark yellow: unsettled, and black: tense and stressed, filled in with her blue-green eyes.  Her body’s level of tenseness reminded me of a coiled snake, wanting to strike but knowing it wasn’t the time.  She had no weapons, no defense, and it was too public.  But she knew.  Oh did she know.  There was no doubt in her eyes that Rye was a demon.  However, she managed to keep a warm, friendly smile on her face.

“The name’s Rye.  You a friend of Ace’s?” I noticed his eyes flicker to her hip, realization faintly crossing his features.  Good thing I knew him, because otherwise I never would’ve noticed. “It’s good to…finally meet you,” he said casually when Ronnie gave him a small, strained nod.  Rye looked at me with a ‘you’re in some serious s**t’ look.  I nodded, knowing he was thinking about both the tattoo on her hip, and what Zona would do if she found out I would rather hang with a slayer than with her.

“You make that sound like he talks about me a lot.” She shot me a gentle, yet curious look as she stepped close to me, putting herself between me and Rye.  She was facing me more than she was him, but she made sure that her back was never turned on him.

How cute.  She was protecting me.  Actually, that was kind of flattering.  No one’s ever tried to do that before.  She scanned around casually, as if looking for something she’d be able to use as a weapon if it came down to a fight.  I followed her eyes and saw several different things that any slayer would be able to get creative with: a broken piece of glass that was barely visible as it poked out of the sand, a loose board under the pier, a few sharp rocks, a rope, and even the cross necklace around my neck.  The inverted pentagram on the back of it isn’t enough protection for him; not even close.  It would hurt him just as one would without the sign.

“Let’s go somewhere else.” I placed my hand on her lower back, feeling her muscles relax a little bit.  Her skin was naturally cool, like all slayers’, but from the sun shining on it, it was also a little warm. “Rye, you can tell them I’m a little tied up right now.”

Ronnie willingly walked away with me, but even as our distance from Rye increased, she never fully turned her back to him.  I didn’t know how I was going to get her to forget about what just happened, but I needed to think of a way to do so.  Until then, I needed to keep her away from Rye before anything unplanned happened.  I led her along the beach and once my jet-ski came into view, I started walking into the water and towards it.  She didn’t stop following me, but she did slow down with curiosity filling her features.  The arm she had on the back of my shoulder was down, her fingers lightly hooking in mine.  It was enough to send a strong wave of satisfaction through me, along with something I’ve only felt when my cover almost gets blown or when Accursius is questionably pissed: nervous.

I didn’t like it.

“Are we going somewhere?” She laughed a little bit and watched as I got on the ski, grinning at her.  The water was up to her waist, hiding her interesting tattoo from me.

“I saw you scanning the ground looking for shells back there; thought you’d like to see a spot that has a lot of good ones.” I shrugged casually and started the engine, sliding forward for her to get on.

“I’d like that.” She bowed her head shyly and smiled as she stepped right up to me.  The hand she placed on my shoulder for balance made my skin tingle, causing me to freeze.  Again, that’s new for me.  I didn’t like that either.  Then her hand slipped forward, over my shoulder, and brushed part of my tattoo, sending a small shock through me.

I jumped.

“You alright?” She sat down behind me, her thighs hugging my hips.  Her hands retreated to her lap and her torso moved away from my back.  Disappointment flooded within me.

No. “Oh yeah.” I don’t know what the Hell that was that sent a shock through me, but it worried me.  For all I knew, it could be her ability, considering I’ve never seen the ability of someone with her tattoo.  And if she was able to put an electric shock through a demon just by touch, well then that could be a problem.

I pulled up onto the shore of an island that was a ways away from the main beach.  It was pretty small and just as deserted.  People didn’t come here a lot, except for once in a while at night for camping.  I would know.  I’ve hunted there a few times.  I tried not to think about it, in fear of it showing on my face or even my eyes changing.

“So, how do you know that guy back there?” She kept her eyes down and her hands at her sides, walking next to me in the ankle deep water.  I wanted to touch her, put my arm around her, hold her hand or something.  But I needed to be smart about this.  She wasn’t like every other girl I’ve met, and she’s definitely not like Zona; she was always on guard and I could tell she had boundaries of some sort.

“Childhood friend.  We were neighbors when we were about seven and since then we’ve been each other’s right hand man.” Total lie.  Demons have never been kids �" we never age.  But I needed a way to answer her question, and hopefully a way to diminish her thoughts of Rye being anything but human.  How was I to explain the tattoo though? “His family was, uh, extremely religious and he was rebellious against them, so he got that tattoo on his arm jus’ to piss ‘em off.” First explanation that popped into my head.  Hopefully that worked.  Even if it’s just for now.

“Oh…you seemed a little worried when he showed up…considering how close you two apparently are.” She eyed me with a slightly playful grin.  Her eyes were back to their normal blue-green color, with no sign of any other color, and that was the first time I’ve seen a slayer’s eyes…pure, for a lack of a better word.

“Yeah…well…he has his moments.” I watched as Ronnie picked up a pure white shell, turning it over in her hands with careful examination.

“What’d you mean?” Not even a glance in my direction.  However, I still caught a glimpse of black creeping into her eyes.

“When he meets a girl that I’ve either said a lot about or am willing to ditch everyone to hang out with…he usually makes his move on her and he’s charming and persuasive enough that he always gets her…always.  Telling him to stay away or isn’t allowed to do anything only encourages him.”

“And…considering you were nervous, you must’ve provoked him unintentionally?” Implication filled her words, making me chuckle and nod my head. “If I were to talk about you, you’d probably get your a*s kicked and I would probably be forbidden to talk to you or even see you.”

Wind blew through, making her hair fall in front of her eyes, stopping as soon as it happened, as if that was its goal.  She wasn’t doing anything to fix it, and it was bugging me.  Her hair was hiding her from me when I wanted to see all of her face �" her eyes, her smile, and the expressions she made when she spoke, including how she gently furrowed her brows with a slight frown as she asked me questions.  I watched as she bent down again, picking up an onyx black shell, cleaning it off in the water before standing up straight.  She turned to face me and looked between the two shells she picked up, putting each one against my skin as if to see how they looked with my color.

She still didn’t brush her hair out of her face.

“Is it because of that one guy?” I reached up and lightly tucked her hair behind her ear.  Thanks to my incredible hearing, I could hear a very quiet, very quick intake of breath coming from her, and that alone made me grin with pride.  What the Hell?

“Yeah, pretty much.” She almost sounded…bummed out about it.  Like her ‘supposed boyfriend’ was what was holding her back from making a move on me.  I knew she wanted to because I knew she was attracted to me just by the way she carried herself around me.  She didn’t hold her head quite as high but she did seem to try and keep her body close to mine, whether she left a small space between us, or her hand brushed mine.  When we spoke, she opened herself up to face me completely.  Not to mention the look she gets when she sees me: admiration and a good amount of…yearning.

“I’m willing to keep this a secret…if you want.” That would actually be better than everyone knowing.  That way, when I fulfill my job, I’d only have one slayer to worry about.  One slayer to outsmart.  One slayer to kill.

 

Ronnie

The two shells I picked up were now in Ace’s pocket as we left the small island on his jet-ski.  His insane body heat was as strong as ever and it was driving me insane.  I was hot enough with the shun beating down and being against him on the seat; I didn’t need his heat on top of that.  Sure, water was spraying on me, but that was hardly satisfactory.

“How ‘bout a quick swim?” I propped my chin on his shoulder and smiled at him.  He glanced down at me with a lazy, lop-sided grin and shrugged.

“We’re not at the beach yet.”

“That’s okay, we can just jump off of this.”

“You sure?” He slowed down and eventually cut the engine before turning to me.  The sun glistened off the piercing in his left brow and his cross necklace.  Why was he wearing it to the ocean?

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose this?” Taking the cross in my hand, I looked up at him and fiddled with it between my fingers.  He nodded but didn’t do anything about it.  Didn’t take it off and didn’t wrap it around his neck a second time.  Instead, he swung a leg over the seat and dove into the water.  One thing’s for sure: if his necklace came off, I wasn’t going after it.

“Come on in.” He turned his head and spat in the water as if trying to get a bad taste out of his mouth.  Salt water.  I smiled and jumped in next to him, splashing water in his face.  I received a splash in mine as Ace’s laughter made me smile a little bit, but then I felt like I wanted to get him back in a different way.  I squinted and pressed my thumb and forefinger against my eyes.

“S**t,” I muttered.

“You alright?” Ace swam up to me but didn’t try to touch my.  I shook my head. “Get water in your eyes?”

No. “Yeah.” I dropped my hand and blinked a few times, trying not to laugh.  Ace looked a little guilty, but as soon as I splashed a big wave of water in his face, he started laughing.  He tried to say something, but water in his mouth stopped him.  Splashing me back was his first reaction, the water keeping me from being able to see him.

The splashing from his side stopped, so I stopped to look at him.  He wasn’t there.  I looked around and didn’t see him anywhere.  My mind instantly snapped back to his ‘friend’.  My instincts told me that he was undoubtedly a demon.  However, he didn’t smell of the usual spice scent to cover up the smell of rotting flesh.  I didn’t know what it was, but he smelled…different.  Kind of like Ace; he smelled more…lively, a lot of it coming from whatever cologne it was he wore.  But now, my mind was racing as I worried his friend was a demon and had gotten a hold of him.

“Ace!”

Something grabbed my foot, just as I was about to swim to the jet-ski, and pulled me under.  My first reaction was to kick downward with my free foot, but whatever grabbed me released my ankle and a set of arms wrapped around my waist just as I broke the surface.  The sound of Ace’s laugher made me open my eyes.

“Really?” I couldn’t help but laugh as I turned my head and spit.  He flinched when my hand brushed his tattoo, and when I left it right over his hear, he moved away from me in a quick yet casual movement.  I didn’t let him se that I noticed as I splashed water in his direction, using that as a cover up.

“Scare you?” He looked hopeful.  He sounded like it too.  A lop-sided grin played on his face as his dark eyes remained locked on mine; intense and slightly amused.  He created a space several feet wide between us and maintained it, even though he looked like he wanted to be closer.

“Nope.” It didn’t scare me but it was enough to make my automatic response kick in; the same one that happens if I’m grabbed from behind in a fight. “You’ll have to do better than that.” I swam up to him, leaving about half a foot of space left between us.  I could smell the cologne he must’ve been wearing before he came to the beach, mixing in with the smell of the water.  His hair was dripping, the water making it hang slightly in front of his eyes.  A faint red was swirling into their darkness, almost reminding me of mist.  His heat was still as strong as before, radiating off of him, even below the water’s surface.  It kind of drew me in.

Laughing and whistling echoed with the sound of loud, heavy rock playing.  I looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a boat with a group of people that looked like they were in their late teens and early twenties.  They were all dancing with cans and bottles in their hands.  Some were throwing each other into the water, some even wrestling for better position until they fell in.  There was one girl, however, who was not dancing or pushing people in.  She was just sitting on the back of the boat in a black, strapless bikini and a can of, what I assumed was beer, in her hand.  Her black hair and pale skin looked familiar to me.

And then she turned around and looked at us.

“Is that…is that your sister?” I looked at Ace and immediately noticed how tense he was.  He held a steady gaze with the girl in the boat.

“Let’s get you back before Trick thinks I might’ve killed you.” He looked at me when I laughed before following him to the jet-ski.  I waited as he got up first, and watched his hand go straight to his necklace, making sure it was still there.  He then turned a little bit and effortlessly pulled me up and onto the seat behind him.  The motor started at the same time as I wrapped my arms around his waist.  And then we were off.

† † † † †

I refused to answer anyone’s questions from the time Ace got me back to everyone to the time we left the beach.  Trick was the worst, asking me where we went, what we did, if he did anything to me, and so on.  He was making comments about everything �" not too pleasant ones �" and Andie was trying to get him to calm down and shut up.  Chett stopped talking when he realized I was getting annoyed, and I was acting like I didn’t hear a word Trick said, which only riled him up even more.  Andie was wearing out trying to calm him down, and she seemed ready to give up.  Chett was turning on his iPod, his way of saying he had a headache and didn’t want to be a part of anything.

“How was I supposed to know he was going to be at the f*****g beach?” I had to get Trick to stop, and hopefully I could do it in the five minutes we had before we were home. “We haven’t talked to each other before we left so it was completely coincidental!”

“I don’t give a s**t if it was coincidental or not!  I just don’t like the thought of you hanging out with him!”

“Why not?”

“I don’t trust the guy,” he sighed.  Oh good; he was calming down a little bit.  I opened my mouth to question that but he wasn’t done. “Besides, what about Corin?”

“What about him?” That almost got Trick to slam on his brakes as he turned around to look at me, still driving. “He wasn’t there!  He doesn’t know and he doesn’t need to know!  Just because I’m supposed to be with him doesn’t mean I can’t hang out with another guy!  I can have fun you know!” I got out of the truck just as Trick was pulling up to the house and went inside, going straight to the bathroom for a long, hot shower.

I hated how I couldn’t tell anyone about not wanting to be with Corin.  Not only for my own freedom, but also because I didn’t want to be leading him on when I really had no intentions of being with him.  But I couldn’t.  I had to be with him.  My family expected it from me, and it would only benefit the clan.  That’s all they were really concerned about, and it’s always been that: what would benefit the clan.  I couldn’t keep it bottled up from anyone else for too much longer; I had to tell somebody.  But who can I tell?  Mom and dad wouldn’t hear of it, Trick would probably tell me to give him a chance, and Chett and Monica would say the same thing.  And then there’s Andie…I don’t know what she would say �" it could go anywhere with her.  I wanted, so much, to talk to her about it, because she’s the only one that really takes my feelings about things into consideration when we talk.  However, maybe now wasn’t quite the time.  I’d get to it eventually.  Maybe I just needed to think a little longer.  Or maybe I-

“Ronnie!  We are not done talking about this,” Trick growled.  He stood up from the couch where he and Andie were sitting.  His shoulders were straight back and squared at me as he stood tall.  There was a dominating essence about him, one I’ve never felt come from him.  My guess was that Andie’s never felt one like it come from him either, because she took on a whole new look of surprise and even some intimidation.

“Well I am.” I slipped on my tennis shoes and put my hair up, ignoring my parents in the kitchen and Chett in his chair. “I’m going for a walk.  Don’t bother to call me; I’m not taking my phone.” I gave Trick one last scowl before walking out the front door, closing it behind me before he could even get one last word out to me.  I was done listening to him.  Had we kept talking, it could’ve become a situation where I say something I’d regret saying; like I don’t feel anything for Corin.

I guess running away from my house for a while probably wasn’t the best way to handle things, but I needed to get away from Trick.  He probably needed a break from me too, in order to cool down and think about things.  I hoped he’d understand what I was trying to say to him, but the chances of that happening were low.  The only place I could think of going to was somewhere in town.  I didn’t know where yet, seeing as most of the clubs weren’t open.  There were stores or coffee shops, but I didn’t have any money on me, so I’d probably just walk around for a while some more.

The heat was ridiculous, even in my shorts and tank top, so I put my hair up in a ponytail in hopes of it helping me cool off.  I wasn’t really prepared for anything to happen while I was walking around, so if I was attacked or spotted by a demon, the only defense I would have would be the small, sterling silver cross necklace that my mom makes me wear every time I go somewhere by myself.  It would do a good amount of damage, but it probably wouldn’t kill anything.  It’d do just enough for me to get away.  Due to being vulnerable, I was a little on edge; every sound from every alley I passed made me stop and look.  There was one alley I looked down and saw something go flying further back.  I guess that was a sign for me to go check it out.  With a quick glance around, I made my way down the alley, hoping that nobody would see or follow me.

Nothing jumped out at me, or even made any noise until I was far enough into the alley where I could barely see the end I came from.  A very large, transparent wing came into view from behind a big pile of debris, joined by its twin.  The tops of them were covered with black fur that went along with the rest of its body.  As it stood up on its hind legs, it kind of reminded me of a wolf, only three times bigger and had a broader chest and thicker snout.  Its fangs were pearly white and so sharp they intimidated even me.  The eyes changed from gold to red when it looked at me.  Blood stained the dark fur on its muzzle, still slightly dripping.  I interrupted its meal.

S**t.

I didn’t move, knowing that if I did it’d attack, and just watched as it stared at me.  No demon I’ve ever met has just had a stare-down with a slayer.  They always attack.  They never wait.  Never analyze anything.  Never change to a less intimidating form.  This one did.  Its new form, slightly taller than me, reminded me of the Grim Reaper without the giant scythe.  I couldn’t see the face, no matter how much I tried; I could only see the red eyes as it walked towards me.

“Well if it isn’t for a little slayer.” His voice was dark and raspy, sending chills down my spine.  With every step he took towards me, I took one back until I hit a wall.

“Who are you?” My voice remained nice and steady, no sign showing the slight intimidation I felt or concern in it even though deep down, I was a little worried.

“I hear you’re looking for me.” His hand closed around the front of my neck.  He didn’t let go, even as I noticed pain start filling into his eyes.  It got more noticeable every second, but he still didn’t drop his hand.

“You b*****d,” I growled.  Close my hand around a sharp plank of wood I felt at my side, I plunged it into Accursius’s rib.  A pained hiss escaped from him as I plunged it deeper in order to push him away from me.  My hand went straight to my necklace, and I noticed it was hot, meaning he was touching it.

I made the mistake of turning my back to him, and as a consequence, he had grabbed my hair and yanked me to the ground.   Accursius leaned over me, the wooden plank in one hand while the other pulled my shirt up just enough to see my tattoo.  At first, I didn’t know what he was doing, but once I caught a glimpse of an inverted pentagram glowing a fiery orange in the middle of his palm, I tensed.  Demons knew about our tattoos containing a high concentration of nerves beneath the surface, and they also knew that an inverted pentagram touching it hurts slayers pretty badly.  It doesn’t leave a burn or anything; it just sends excruciating pain through our bodies.  Sometimes it’s enough to make us sick, and sometimes it can even make us pass out.  It’s a way of torture that the demons find sickeningly hilarious.

Accursius let out a quiet, hair raising chuckle and his eyes filled with amusement as he looked down at my tattoo, which was when he froze.  My mind was racing, even as he remained still.  If any time was my chance to get out from under him, it was while he was stunned about something.  Quickly looking around as I gave small jerking movements, I also froze when I saw something.  Ace was standing right around the corner, watching me.

S**t.

“Impossible,” he growled.  His raspy voice made me look back up at him just in time to feel unbearable pain shoot through my body.  He had his hand pressing heavily on my hip, and looking into his eyes, I saw that anger had replaced the amusement.  I clenched my jaw as tightly as I could and forced myself to breathe steadily, no matter how much it hurt.  The strong eye contact I held clearly unsettled him, and when he lifted his hand away, relief rushed through my body.  I watched as Accursius looked down at my tattoo, his eyes filling with a mixture of emotions.  Anger.  Guilt.  Confusion.  Sadness.  Hatred. “K-Katerina?”

Never have I seen a demon ever show anything like that, and seeing it now, it confused me more than ever. The only things they ever feel, other than amusement, are anger and hatred.  Never sorrow and especially never guilt.  It makes me wonder what kind of King Accursius is.  There’s no way he could be a sympathetic demon in the slightest bit; he would’ve been overthrown a long time ago.  So what kind of King is he?  And why did I see guilt in his eyes?

He pushed himself away from me and backed up, keeping his hands down at his sides.  Even as he created more space, he still didn’t change into his bigger and stronger form.  However, he did look away from me.  But he looked at Ace.

My whole body tensed and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.  Whether he was watching or not, the closest innocent life a demon sees is gone.  I couldn’t let Ace get in the middle of any of this.  I don’t want him to get hurt; especially on my watch.  Taking a deep breath, I jumped to my feet as I ripped off my necklace, and stabbed it with as much force as I could into the middle of Accursius’s chest.  The sound he let out was more of a cry of shock instead of pain, but the cross in the middle of his chest was enough to make him disappear in front of me.  My guard stayed up, my body tenser than ever as I looked around to make sure the demon wasn’t showing back up anywhere.  I ran over to Ace, who was stepping out from around the corner to meet me, my breathing controlled but heart pounding.  As I got closer to him, there was only thought going through my mind, one that I was taught since I was able to talk: An innocent man is a dead man.