Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"Don't forget that I cannot see myself. My role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror." �" French Poet Jacques Rigaut

Ace

Her eyes were sharp and focused, even though they never completely rested on me.  She was looking all around the alley, clearly still on edge, and it seemed like she was ready to strike at any moving thing.  I tried not to grin at her, knowing that I’d have to play the dumb, completely lost human; a position I very much despised.  It just interested me how she became so…fixated on the thought of protecting me instead of how she could defend herself first.  She wasn’t looking for anything she could use as a weapon at this time…she was looking for Accursius while keeping me close.  Her hand was clutching my shirt as she pulled me towards the end of the alley, her eyes analyzing everything.

“What the Hell was that?” I, personally, wasn’t talking about the whole situation, because, yes, I knew what was happening.  Only Ronnie didn’t know that.  I was questioning the look I saw in Accursius’s eyes.  Never in my life, and it’s been a very long life for me, have I seen anything like that coming from him.  He’s probably the last…person I’d ever expect to feel guilty or sad over anything.  Even when he almost killed me (literally).  I don’t even know how I was still…alive, for a lack of better words.

“Um…come with me.  Quickly!” Her hand left my shirt and latched onto my wrist and she pulled me with her as she made us start running.  I made sure I stayed behind her enough that she had to keep pulling me a little bit, but at the same time, I didn’t understand why she was still on guard.  Accursius wasn’t lingering around, and he wasn’t coming back.  Not for now anyways.

“No need to tell me twice.” I kept my voice light but she hardly looked back at me.  I noticed, that as she was looking around, the corners of her mouth didn’t even threaten to turn up into a smile.  Huh.  Any other time she would’ve at least grinned a little bit.  But no.  I guess she’s too wound up to find anything amusing…I just don’t understand how one demon can cause a slayer to be so tense.  Especially after he’s clearly not coming back.  However, there is one thing I knew: I did not like seeing her stressing out.  Not just over this, but over anything.  When I saw her walking through town earlier, she looked unbelievably stressed about something, and I wanted nothing more than to help her relax.

“Alright,” she sighed.  Her fingers loosened around my wrist now that we were out on the sidewalk, standing in the crowd of people.  Her arms and legs had a little bit of mud on them and the back of her white tank top had some on it as well.  There was a little smudge of dirt on the side of her cheek, so I casually wiped it away with my thumb when she looked up at me.  It worried me a little how instinctual it was for me to do it too.

She looked better now that we were around other people and out of the back alleys.  I could almost visibly see her stress disappearing.  Demons not attacking where others can see must be the reason for that, although the fact that a demon may still be lurking is what was keeping her stress around.  That and she’s freaking out about me seeing her and Accursius fighting.  Her deep, blue-green eyes were mixed with only one color �" pale grey: very nervous and worried.  Maybe I needed to get her away from the area in order for her to relax more and actually tell me something.

“Come with me,” I murmured in her ear, grabbing her hand and pulling her with me.  She flinched a little bit in my light grip, but it wasn’t long before she relaxed again.  Damn.  I have to be careful.  I keep forgetting that my human skin is hot to her touch.  If I keep forgetting that, it probably won’t be long before she questions it and my cover gets blown.  She’s smart, so it really won’t take long for her to figure anything out.  Unless I’m careful.  And then I’ll be able to get the information I need as long as I can get her to tell me at least something about her family without making it suspicious.

The random feeling of tension washed over me, meaning that there was another demon around, so I took a quick glance around and immediately dropped Ronnie’s hand when I saw Verrine, or Vince, and Verrier, or Rye, talking to a couple human girls.  Rye looked up and saw me walking with Ronnie and his expression changed from flirtatious to dark and sly.  S**t.  The more he sees her, the more her scent and looks register in his mind, which will make it easier for him to track her.  The more he sees her with me, the more he’s going to want her.  I didn’t dare give him a warning glare, something I wanted to do more than anything at the moment, because it’d only encourage him even more.  All I could do was remind myself to remain neutral and remind myself to focus on the fact that Ronnie was right next to me and Rye wasn’t coming near us.  I have his brother to thank for that.  Vince knows that Ronnie is my job and Accursius has chosen me for a reason.  He couldn’t care less if Accursius or I get mad at him, but he knows better than to mess with a plan.  It’d literally cause him his life, so to speak.  It’s knowing that, that made him keep Rye by him and the girls as we walked by.

Looking around, I saw more demons that I knew and confusion spiked inside me.  What the Hell were all these guys doing in the same area at the same time?  I first saw Carreau, mercilessness, and Olivier, cruelty and greed, standing against a wall, talking about something.  Normally I’d be able to hear it, but now I was on edge and trying to focus on more than I was able to in order to keep Ronnie away from all of them.  The sound of everything blurred together into one and it felt like I had a million people talking to me at once.  Then I saw Zona talking to Nybbas, manager of visions and dreams.  That combination couldn’t be anymore worrisome.  Zona could be using her charm against Nybbas in order to get something to go her way, and usually, it ends up with some sort of trouble around.  Nybbas always expects some sort of pay if he does favors, and I know exactly how Zona would pay him back: sex.  Nearby them, I saw Naamah, demoness of seduction.  She was just sitting outside a coffee shop, reading a magazine.  Typical for her.  Naamah always acted a little more like a teenager when it came to magazines and fashion.  Although it worked for her, seeing as it allowed her to use her seduction a lot more directly.  She’s used it on me several times as well, and yes, we’ve had our fun, but sometimes I try to stay away from her a little bit.  One demoness is all I want to deal with.  Besides, no need for them to start a fight over me, even though that would be as fun as Hell to watch.  Finally, the last demon I saw was actually a surprise to me.  Accursius.  He was standing in the shadows of an alley, watching us.  Watching me, actually.  And let me say, he did not look very happy.  He just didn’t look very…good, actually.  Unhealthy.  Even for a demon.  But I guess I didn’t blame him; he did get stabbed in the middle of the chest by a cross, even though it was small.  The look on his face was fierce and it put me on edge a little more.  He was waiting for me to get things started.  I gave him a curt nod and looked away just as he nodded in return and turned away.  As if on cue, the surrounding demons in town got up and started to walk in different directions.  Everyone except for Zona, who just stood there and stared at us.  Believe it or not, she looked pissed.

Was Accursius really keeping tabs on me?  Did he feel it was important to have reinforcements around in this situation?  Does he feel that doubtful and untrusting towards me?  Wow.  I feel…insulted.  And, honestly, that doesn’t happen very often.

“Ace?  Is that your sister…again?” Ronnie stopped me and looked at Zona, leaving her hand resting on my forearm.  She was completely ignoring how hot my skin was compared to hers, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake how cool hers was to me.  It was extremely relaxing.  More than it should have been.  Ronnie seemed a little relaxed when touching me as well, and that is no good.

“Um…yeah…” I looked away from Zona, still feeling her piercing gaze, and down at Ronnie, which made me grin.  She smiled up at me for a moment, but then her confusion returned.

“Why is she always where you are?  I mean, there was at the club, at the beach earlier today, and now.  And you didn’t even seem to know that she was here or at the beach.”

“I don’t know…she’s my little sister.  She looks up to me or somethin’ I guess, I dunno.” I shrugged and started walking again, throwing a sharp glare at Zona before looking away from her again. “Just ignore her.  It’s good for her.” I rolled my eyes when I felt the tense feeling increase, meaning that what I said pissed Zona off.  She despised being ignored, especially by me.  Oh well.

“Um…okay…” Ronnie’s quiet, confused laugh made me smile a little bit and throw my head back to look up at the sky. “So did you walk here or do you have a vehicle around?”

“My truck is just across the street…need a ride somewhere?” I casually swung my arm over her shoulder and playfully pulled her into my side.  She just laughed and leaned against me, surprising me.  I actually expected her to pull away at least a little bit, especially in this heat.  Her hand touched the left side of my chest, right where my tattoo was, and I could feel it starting to tingle.  Thankfully it wasn’t a shock like it was earlier, but it was still strange.  I know for a fact that a slayer’s touch doesn’t send a shock through us when our tattoo is touched, nor does it tingle.  If so, I probably would’ve been shocked to a crisp a long time ago.  So…why did Ronnie’s touch make it happen?

“No where specific…anywhere but here would be nice.” Her grip on me loosened and I felt her body tense up again.  She started looking around casually, but I knew what she was searching for: demons.  Not that she could see one from this distance, as far as I knew I guess.  I didn’t know for sure; she was surprising me more and more every minute I spent with her.  However, I did know that she completely just missed her chance to see any.

“I thought you’d say that.” Grinning down at her, I pulled her with me to the curb and started walking across the street without even looking for cars.  She was hesitant about following me, but it was a short hesitance.

Her quiet gasp was loud and clear to me, and I stopped us in the middle of the road to look at her.  She wasn’t looking around for demons anymore, so it couldn’t have been because of that; she was looking straight ahead.  I followed her gaze and chuckled quietly.  Her eyes were focused on the black, Dodge Ram 3500 parked along the curb.  A pale silver color mixed into her eyes: calm and interested.  She stepped away from me completely and up to my truck with a small smile.

“You have it lifted?”

“Yeah, hop in,” I laughed. “I like it a little higher…makes it look bigger.” I winked at her and watched as she stepped around to the passenger side.  Before I could even consider going around to open the door for her, which I really didn’t even want to do, she was opening the door.  I got in just in time to hear her grunt as she hoisted herself into the passenger seat.  There was a small smile on her face as she closed the door and put on her seatbelt like a good person.  I never wore mine, but then again, a crash couldn’t kill me.  Not unless I plummeted into a cross or something.

I normally listen to music, pretty loudly too, but I needed to talk to this slayer and get her to share information with me.  At least a little bit.  Now, I have to figure out how to get her to tell me.  Well that won’t be too hard.  But how much will she be willing to tell me?

“So, what the Hell was that in the alley?”

The mood in my truck instantly became a little on the tense side.  I was fine with it, seeing as what I’m able to put up with, but I didn’t like it coming from Ronnie.  It makes sense though, seeing as I saw her fighting, and she didn’t want me to know about anything.  But how could she avoid telling me?  I saw Accursius get stabbed with a piece of wood and a cross, and that would’ve killed any human.  Anything they did would’ve killed a human, for the most part.  I saw the pentagram on Accursius’s hand as he placed it on Ronnie’s tattoo.  And I watched as he shimmered out of the alley too.  Those things can’t really be avoided in conversation.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” I gave the slayer a stern look, and even though I didn’t need to keep my eyes on the road, I thought I’d humor Ronnie, seeing as she thought I was a human.  That was still funny to me…I was even a little insulted...but I’ll grow to deal with it.

“This guy and I just got into a small fight…no big deal.” She shrugged nonchalantly.  She was acting like fighting a demon, especially the King of Hell himself, was no big deal.  I guess if it was any ordinary demon, it may have not been a big deal to her, but it was Accursius.  I’m surprised she wasn’t shaken up or anything.  Actually, I was surprised to see that she barely had a single injury on her body.  Why hadn’t he done more damage to her?  Why did he stop hurting her?

“Ronnie, you f****n’ stabbed the guy with a piece of plywood and he hardly flinched.  There was something burning in the palm of his hand that hurt you, not him.  You stabbed him in the chest with a cross and then he disappeared into thin air.  If you ask me, that’s a pretty f****n’ big deal.”

“Well…yeah…when you put it like that it sounds like it.”

“It’s impossible for that…guy to have survived through any of that.” I loathed playing the ‘stupid human’ in these situations.  That could not be stressed enough.  Especially when the answer was completely obvious to me �" when I lived with it every single day.  But I needed to get her to give me as much information as possible, even if it just started as her telling me the basics.  Besides, it’d be interesting to see a slayer’s perspective on us.

“It’s not impossible…”

“Veronica.” Yes, I was already beginning to lose my patience.  It was a record breaker for me.  I wanted information.  I wasn’t getting it.  Normally, I’d be patient about that.  But there was a catch.  I wanted information from a slayer.  That slayer was refusing to share anything with me.  My automatic instinct to torture the slayer until it gave in, was starting to rear its ugly head.

“Okay, yeah, impossible... You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” she muttered.  There was a sharp edge to her voice as she spoke, one that was meant to warn me to back off and get off the topic; as if that would happen.  It seemed like the only thing keeping her back was possibility getting me involved.  She wasn’t worried about her family getting pissed at her.  Honestly, she probably didn’t even care.

“Humor me,” I dared, keeping a light, cocky tone in my voice.  Then again…how was I supposed to react when she tells me?  I don’t know how to play the partly doubtful, partly believing, surprised human.  Any other type, yes, I know how.  Just not scared or surprised.  I rested my forearm on the console and leaned on it, looking at Ronnie.  She gave me a stubborn glare and a pouty lip, but I didn’t even crack a grin at her, even though it was difficult.  We just had a stare down, ignoring the fact that I was driving, and when she realized I wasn’t about to back down, defeat flooded across her features.  She looked away from me and down at her lap, her hand automatically moving to cover her tattoo.  From what I could see of it, the skin looked a little red and irritated.  She winced as she touched it.  Huh, I guess it still hurts. “Think about it this way; it shouldn’t be too hard to tell me seeing as we’re not best friends or anything.  So I guess there’s not much that can get ruined by whatever you have to say.  Am I right?”

“There are…things out there that…um…how can I say this without sounding completely insane?” She gave a breathless laugh, more at herself than anything, like she couldn’t believe she was about to tell me.  I couldn’t believe she was about to tell me.  I thought she would be more stubborn. “Literally demons from Hell prowl around…everywhere, only they disguise themselves as humans in order to blend in.  They feed on the people they can find…but they typically only hunt at clubs seeing as no one notices if a person goes missing and no one can hear them.”

“So you expect me to believe that the guy was a demon or somethin’?”

“No, I don’t expect you to, but it’s true so you should.” Her voice became so much quieter than it was before; almost a whisper.

“How do you tie into this?  Are you like…a demon slayer or somethin’?” I gave a halfhearted laugh, hoping it didn’t sound too sarcastic, and focused back on the road.  I glanced at the rearview mirror and my hands clenched on the steering wheel until my knuckles started to turn white.  A yellow Porsche was behind us.  Zona.  S**t.  Now I have to get rid of her before I wind up taking Ronnie home.

“Everyone in my family is a slayer…me being the youngest in my blood family.  There are other slayers, besides us.  Just a few different families around here.”

“Ah, I see.” Yeah, I already f****n’ knew that stuff. “Wait, you said that these…demons disguise themselves as humans…how do you know if they’re human or not?”

“They all have tattoos.  As different as they are, they’re always red and black, and always have an inverted pentagram somewhere in the design.  Very few of them have a rotten scent that only a slayer can pick up on, but not all of them have it.  Sometimes their eyes give it away; some either flash us their demon eyes or the weak ones can’t conceal them the best.  Some would think that we should be able to tell by their skin, thinking it should be hot or something, and that’s what slayers have believed at one point, but then some have come across demons with colder skin or even normal skin temperature. So we usually focus on seeing the tattoo or waiting for it to spot us and do something about it…or even sometimes we catch one controlling someone.”

“How do they know you’re a slayer?” Easy as Hell answer: scent, tattoos, eyes.

“Well…we do have tattoos as well…each one is black and silver and represents some sort of…weapon or ability that each slayer has.  For example, my sister has an eye on the inside of her wrist; she gets premonitions of what currently is going on with certain slayers once in a while.  Mine is the only one that’s gold and doesn’t represent anything special.  It’s a mystery to everyone who hasn’t had it, and is still to me.  And that book I lost had some information about everyone that had my tattoo.  We’re usually born with them but in my situation, mine didn’t start showing up until I was seven, which was when my aunt was killed by a b*****d of a demon I’ve been looking for since then.  Our eyes are also different to them and other slayers; they kind of act like mood rings.  Based on how we feel, different colors will mix in with our usual eye color.  Completely unnoticeable by humans.  And…we…um…we sorta stop getting older once we hit a certain age…we can die any way a human can except for old age.” Ronnie was fiddling with her fingers in her lap the whole time she was talking to me, and she never looked up at me or out the window.  But then she looked at me with a confused expression. “You know, you’re taking this pretty well…not even mocking me.”

“Who ever said I wasn’t mocking you on the inside?” I gave her a cocky smile, which earned me a have smile from her before I looked back at the road, a little more seriously. “Nah, I’m not objecting to anythin’.  I don’t deny that I believe in them…I just never thought that they’re how you say they are.  And I definitely never thought there’d be slayers for ‘em.” I shrugged casually and looked back up in the rearview, still seeing Zona there.  Staying in town was intentional while she was behind us, but as soon as I get rid of her, we’d be going somewhere else.

“Do you actually believe me?” She whispered, sounding almost hopeful and even more surprised.

“I’m not completely sure yet.” That statement made me want to laugh, but something told me it wasn’t the time to do that.  My voice remained stern and uncertain through it as I looked away from her and back out the windshield.

“But you can’t tell anyone!  You’re not even supposed know any of this, so I’m taking a risk telling you.  And the only reason I am is because you saw me fighting one.  Not to mention it saw you.”

“What does it seeing me have to do with anything?” I was actually a little curious about this.  Yes, I knew that if a demon saw a human, especially in a fight, that human would be killed.  However, I didn’t know the thought slayers had on it.

“There’s a…saying, if you’d like call it that, that we live by when it comes to demons seeing humans and it’s one reason why I haven’t let you out of my sight yet.” She eyed me sternly and looked away before she was tempted to smile.  She was, I could see it all over her face. “No, I’m not going to tell you what that is.  Not yet anyways.”

“Alright,” I laughed. “So, you said you’re after one of these things…was it the one you were with back there?”

“Yeah…Accursius.  That was actually my first time coming in contact with him personally, so I was a little unprepared.  Especially because it was on accident and I didn’t have anything with me to fight with.  I actually questioned others about his location and everything, but each one of them said they didn’t want to live if it meant giving him up, which I don’t understand.  Demons don’t give a s**t if another one gets in trouble or killed or anything.  I’d like to know what’s so good about him.  It doesn’t make sense.” She had a point.  One that I knew the answer to but wasn’t about to share with her.  I’ve heard about her looking for him.  Everyone is too afraid of Accursius to even consider giving him up.  As soon as his location was given, even if it was before a slayer got to finish off the demon that gave him up, Accursius would have him killed in a torturous way that would make all the religious stuff and pits of Hell seem like nothing.

I just nodded and didn’t say anything.  What could I even say?  If I gave suggestions that might give something away, or at least sounded like I was defending Accursius, I could get in a bit of trouble or on her suspicious side.  But my silence felt like it didn’t belong either.

“So…your family is kind of like a tribe then…?  I mean, I remember you saying that your parents want you and that one guy together, right?  Is it like an arranged marriage kind of thing?”

“That’s exactly what it is.  And it usually works too because…well our tattoos have a high concentration of nerve endings in them, so they’re pretty sensitive to the touch.  What’s supposed to happen is when one slayer repeatedly touches another’s tattoo, if the two are arranged for marriage, then after a few contacts it’s supposed to feel comforting and…well just a good feeling, you know?  And that’s why my brother and his girlfriend are doing so well and why my sister and her boyfriend are too; because it’s working for them.  But when Corin tries it to me once in a while, it doesn’t feel how it’s supposed to.  It’s almost an uncomfortable feeling and it’s getting worse each time.  I mean, that’s not why I don’t want to be with him, but it sure does have an effect on it.”

“Why don’t you want this guy?  I mean, if it’s arranged, and you guys are fighters, I’d guess that they match you guys up with the best bloodline they can find, right?” I was honestly curious.  I didn’t know that it was possible for a slayer to feel discomfort from another slayer that way.  I knew everything else…just not that. “Or why don’t you tell anyone?”

“Who would I tell?  My parents wouldn’t hear of it; they’d just say to give it time.  My brother wouldn’t really know what to say, except for maybe the same thing my parents would.  Trick is good friends with Corin and he’s actually trying to help him with me.”

“What about your sister?  What would she say?”

“I don’t know…with her it could go any direction…but she’d probably see it coming." She turned so she was facing me a little more and pulled her leg up so it was resting on the seat.  Her eyes were focused on me, and judging by the look in them, she knew I was hinting that she should talk to her sister about it, and she didn’t want me to go any further.  But I did see consideration in them as well.

Oh good.  I’m becoming an influence on her in a way.  I wonder what else I could make her consider doing.  Just thinking about the possibilities made me grin to myself.  If I can get her to trust me more, not only will I get the information for Accursius, but I may also have a lot more fun with this job.  I opened my mouth to ask another question, but Ronnie beat me to saying anything.

“Look, this is a lot for you to take in, and believe it or not, it’s a lot for me to take in too.  So, please, no more questions, okay?” She suddenly sounded exhausted, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that she relaxed back into the seat with a loud sigh.  I could visibly see her earlier tension leave after she got everything off her chest, and now that she was done sharing information, she looked beyond relaxed.

“Yeah, no problem.” I looked down at my phone and saw that I had a couple messages.  The first one was from Accursius, asking what the slayer and I were doing, so I told him that I was possibly taking her home and that I was working on what I could get her to tell me.  The other was from Zona, asking me pretty much the same thing Accursius did.  However, instead of telling her anything, I just told her to get lost and to stop following us. “So, am I taking you home or do you just want to go somewhere else right now….or what?” I was only able to say that once I saw Zona’s car veer off into a different direction, meaning that she’s actually listening to me for once.

Pulling into Ronnie’s driveway, I couldn’t help but glance around everywhere, taking into consideration all the trees that surrounded her house.  They’d make an easy hiding space for any demon out there, no matter how big, but I didn’t sense any around.  There’s an advantage for me, and a disadvantage for them.  So I wonder how they manage to keep the area demon free.  Maybe they have shifts to run around their land and make sure things are all clear.

That’s insane, there’s no way they’d waste time doing that. The voice in my head growled.  I guess it was right; slayers have way more to worry about than patrolling the woods.

“You should, uh, come in…at least for a little bit.” Ronnie’s voice made me look back at her, and that’s when I realized she was already out of my truck, just staring at me with the door open.  She looked kind of hesitant, but there was no doubt she was serious.  Being the only slayer in a house full of slayers is suicide.  But what could I do?  I’m supposed to be in danger.  She thinks I’m human and I need to play the part if I want to succeed in this.  I cut my engine and met Ronnie around at the front of my truck.

“Alright.”