The Sweetest Burn

The snake-armed demon’s skin was starting to blacken and burn under the dawn’s brightening rays. After everything demons had taken from me, I’ll admit that the sight pleased me. If I was just a tad more vindictive, I would’ve videoed it so that my sister, Jasmine, could enjoy it, too.

“What are we going to do with him?” I said, nodding at the demon. “The beach is empty now, but it won’t be for long.”

Adrian’s reply was to say something to Brutus in what I referred to as Demonish. The harsh yet disturbingly beautiful language was where Adrian’s unusual accent came from. I only recognized the word for “go,” but Brutus understood all of it. As soon as Adrian finished speaking, the gargoyle grabbed the demon and flew off toward the ocean.

“What’s he doing?”

“Dropping him far enough away that the demon won’t be a threat to any beachgoers,” Adrian replied. “If we’re lucky, his prolonged exposure to daylight will turn him into a withered husk. Demons can’t stand our realm in the sun. I told you that.”

He had, which begged the question, why had the demon risked such exposure by entering this world right before dawn?

“Ivy.” The low, resonant way Adrian said my name made shivers roll over me, although I’d rather die than let him know that. “It’s good to see you.”

I didn’t want to be, but I was glad to see him, too, and for more reasons than him knowing exactly how to take out Snake Arms. I’d tried to talk myself out of feeling anything for Adrian during the two months since he’d admitted that he had betrayed me and then disappeared. Told myself that what I’d thought I felt for him had been due to the extreme circumstances we’d found ourselves in mixed with the temptation of forbidden fruit. Some days, when I only dwelled on the cold logic of the situation, I even believed it. The fact that Adrian had made no attempt to contact me seemed to support that theory. And now, after all this time, he thought that showing up, smiling and flashing me a smoldering look would make everything okay?

“Yeah?” I said, turning my back on him. “Well, now you’ve seen me.” And I walked away from him. “I wouldn’t stay here, if I were you,” I threw over my shoulder at Adrian. “There’s a gateway on the beach. I glimpsed the demon realm only seconds before Snake Arms and his friends came out of it.”

“Where?” he asked, catching up to me all too quickly.

“About four blocks this way,” I said, cursing myself because now, he had a good reason to keep walking with me.

He reached over, touching my arm. “Ivy, wait—”

“Now, that’s funny,” I interrupted, jerking away. “Is that what you thought? That I’d just wait for you until you felt like showing up again?”

“You asked me to go,” Adrian said, his voice roughening with frustration. “In fact, you insisted, remember?”

I began to walk faster. “Who wouldn’t need a little time after finding out that you’d lied to me about my real destiny? Then, you didn’t even try to make up for what you’d done. No, you disappeared for months without a single word. You knew when I started this that I thought everything would be fine if I used David’s hallowed, Goliath-slaying slingshot to save my sister. But after I almost died doing that, you dropped the bomb that it was only step one in a destiny I couldn’t avoid, remember?”

Don’t even get me started on step two and three of my supposedly unavoidable destiny, where fate said that Adrian would literally be the death of me.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. The front was still longer than the back, and the ocean breeze tousled those thick, dark gold waves. His silver-ringed eyes were deep blue, and even when he scowled, it highlighted lips both full and completely masculine. Adrian was as gorgeous as he was dangerous; another sign of fate’s cruel sense of humor when it came to our opposing destinies.

I looked away, blaming my staring at him on post-battle temporary insanity. Once, I’d laughed after almost getting ripped apart by a demon who could turn shadows into weapons. Adrenaline was more sense-depriving than heroin at times.

“Yeah, I remember,” Adrian said shortly. “Saying I’m sorry is worthless, so I won’t. All I can do is promise that it will never happen again.”

I wished it wouldn’t, for a lot of reasons. But how could I believe this promise when he still wouldn’t even apologize for the last time he’d lied to me? And worse, fate predicted that he would betray me again. Twice, and the final one would end in my death, making me just another dead Davidian in a long line of ones killed by Judians.

Except that I was the last descendant of the Biblical King David’s line, and thus the only human capable of wielding the hallowed weapons that could bring down demons. Adrian was the last descendant of Judas, and in addition to his incredible, otherworldly powers, he had also inherited the fate to betray and kill Davidians. When we first met, I had believed that he could beat his fate, if he tried. In fact, I’d believed it so much that I’d fallen in love with him. Now, I wasn’t so sure, but I had other things to worry about. Like the demons who would surely be after me, my sister and Costa now that we’d killed more of their people.

Adrian grabbed my arm. “Would you stop for a second so we can talk?”

“No,” I replied, yanking away. “And if you touch me again, you’ll regret it.”

“What’s your hurry?” he challenged, switching tactics.

I gave him an irritated glance. “I’m worried about my sister and your best friend. Costa’s house is on hallowed ground, so it’s safe for now, but three minions and a demon going missing from that realm won’t go unnoticed, as you of all people should know. The rest of the demons will figure out what happened since no human could’ve taken them down. Soon, they’ll be tearing this place apart looking for us, so Jasmine, Costa and I need to be gone before they do.”

He arched a brow. “Well, then, I guess it’s a good idea that I stay close to make sure you’re safe.”

“I can take care of myself, as one very dead minion would tell you if he could,” I shot back.

The smile he flashed me was maddening in its cockiness. “Seems like you needed a little help with the rest of them.”

He was right, but admitting that would be tantamount to telling him that I wanted him to stay, and I didn’t. “Don’t flatter yourself. I had a plan. Two more blocks, and I’d have been on hallowed ground. The demon couldn’t cross that, and he couldn’t wait me out with the sun coming up. And as you once told me, minions are easy to kill.”

“Not two at a time when you’re still a novice,” he replied.

I spun around, and then clenched my teeth when I saw the triumphant look in his eyes. He’d wanted me to keep talking and I’d let him bait me into it.

I began to hike up my dress as I resumed walking. Adrian watched with interest until I reached the straps around my upper thighs. I gave him a censuring look as I pulled out my cell phone. No, I wasn’t flashing him. I had to give Costa and Jasmine a heads-up that they needed to start packing. Poor Costa. He’d taken me and my sister in because we couldn’t return to our old house—or our old lives—after I’d decimated a demon realm rescuing Jasmine. Now, Costa would be forced to leave his own home, and I had no idea where any of us would go.

But when I looked at my phone, I let out a groan. The front of it was smashed so badly, I could see the plastic casing behind it. Memories of the minion’s fists explained how that had happened. My ribs hadn’t been the only thing he’d bashed as he’d tried to kill me.

“Do you have a phone?” I asked, breaking my new silence.

His mouth tightened. “No.”

“Who goes anywhere without a cell phone?” I muttered.

Adrian’s features closed off, as if this was somehow a sore subject. “I’ve been having issues with mine.”

We walked in silence for several moments. The sun was almost fully up, and I felt bad for Brutus flying in those rays while taking the demon far out over the ocean, even though I was ticked at Brutus for sneaking behind my back to see Adrian.

“Do you know the worst part of staying away from you these past months?” Adrian asked. “I thought it would be remembering everything that had happened between us, but instead, it was thinking of everything we didn’t do.”

I still said nothing. If he’d missed me so much, ignoring me for months was a real unique way of showing it.

He moved closer, until his big body blocked the wind. I still didn’t look up at him, but kept staring straight ahead as if I could will myself back at Costa’s with sheer mind power.

“I showed you terrible places when I should have shown you beautiful ones,” he went on, his voice deepening. “Told you horrible details about my past instead of letting you get to know the person I’d become, and I taught you how to wield that slingshot instead of teaching you a thousand different things that we would’ve enjoyed much, much more.”

The way his voice caressed that last part made his meaning explicitly clear. Surprise combined with a rush of heat as a treacherous part of myself started imagining what those things might have been. My lack of experience meant I didn’t have a lot to go on, but my mind seemed up to improvising. Then, with a mental slap, I forced those thoughts back.

“Too late now,” I said in a crisp tone.

Adrian caught me to him, his hands closing like warm steel bands around my arms.

“Ivy, listen. When we met, I didn’t think I could beat my fate. That’s why I kept pushing you away, why I didn’t tell you who I was at first and why I didn’t tell you what I felt until, yes, it was almost too late. But it’s not too late.” He stared at me until his gaze felt almost palpable with his intensity. “I know what I feel for you, and it’s stronger than any destiny. I told you the last time I saw you that I’d make you believe in us again. I meant that, and regardless of how mad you are at me, if you had a hard time resisting me when I was fighting my feelings for you...you won’t stand a chance now that I’m not.”

My jaw dropped as pride chased away the dangerous warmth that had caused me to sway the tiniest bit closer to him. I’d practically thrown myself at him the last time circumstances had forced us to spend time together, and what had that gotten me? Betrayed and dumped. Damned if I’d let history repeat itself.

“Don’t be so cocky,” I said, pulling away and starting to walk again. “I’m not the same person, either, so save your efforts. My panties aren’t going to fall off just because you’ve finally decided that you want them to.”

His laughter chased after me, sensual and challenging. “Oh, Ivy, they don’t need to fall off. I’m happy to tear them.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. Adrian wasn’t leaving and he wasn’t listening to me; I may as well be reliving the first time we met. Back then, he’d saved me from a minion kidnapping while opening my eyes to my “hallucinations” being real. Whether I liked it or not, if history was repeating itself, then his presence meant my life was about to irrevocably change.

Again.

CHAPTER THREE

SINCE ADRIAN WASN’T going away, I decided to make him pull his weight. When we reached the spot on the beach where I’d grappled with the minion, I gestured in the general vicinity of where I’d spotted the demon realm. I didn’t see anything now, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. My lineage meant that I was most attuned to hallowed objects, so at best, I only caught random glimpses of dark ones even when I was right on top of them. Adrian’s lineage meant that he was most attuned to dark objects, and a demon realm gateway was about as dark as something could get.

“The realm gateway was over there. Do you see it?”

He walked to the spot I’d indicated. Then he held out his hands as if feeling for a doorway, which, in essence, he was.

“It’s strange,” he said after a pause. “I see the realm and I do feel something, but it’s not as strong as a normal gateway would be. Instead of a door, it feels more like...a crack.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” I said with a fresh sense of dismay. “With the walls between demon realms and our world weakening, cracks are probably turning up all over the place. If it gets worse, those cracks will turn into gaping holes and realms will spill out into this world. And then...”

I stopped speaking because I didn’t want to say what would happen next. The only thing worse than knowing was being the only person who could do something to stop it. That’s why I’d spent the past two months splitting my time between training and trying to get my sister, Jasmine, through the post-traumatic stress of being a former demon captive. You’d think with all that, I wouldn’t have had the energy to focus on Adrian, yet I had. A broken heart was the slowest wound to heal, it appeared.

“I think we’re safe for the moment,” Adrian said, not addressing my unfinished sentence. “The crack doesn’t feel strong enough to let anyone else through. Maybe the sunlight is weakening it.”

For now. I rubbed my right hand where the outline of a braided rope ran from my finger all the way up to my elbow. The remains of the ancient, hallowed slingshot no longer burned in that odd way, but touching it was a tangible reminder that Adrian and I had destinies to fulfill: me to possibly save those trapped in the demon realms, and him to probably betray me.

“All right, well, minions are dead, the demon’s gone, Brutus should be back any second and I’m almost home, so you can leave. Now,” I added.

A scoff preceded his response and the silver rings around his dark blue eyes seemed to gleam.

“I’m not going anywhere, Ivy. Ready or not, I’m back in your life and I’m here to stay.”

“But I don’t want you to,” I said, fighting the urge to thump him over the head so the words would sink in.

He only smiled, dazzling and so arrogant that I spun around so I didn’t have to look at him anymore. “Yes, I heard you, but while you might not want me—yet—you do need me.”

Then, with his lightning quickness, he appeared in front of me, shoving a small box into my hands. “Speaking of things I didn’t get to do before, happy birthday, although one day late.”

Shock made me stand still and stare at the box. Twenty-one was a milestone, but no one else had remembered. Not my sister, who was also my best friend, or Costa, my roommate who’d become as close as a brother to me, or Zach, the Archon who sorta mentored me and had supernatural knowledge of just about everything. Only Adrian, and I’d never told him when it was.

I couldn’t stop myself from opening the unexpected gift. Then I let out a little gasp when I saw the round stone suspended at the end of a long gold chain. The jewel reflected the first rays of sunlight back at me in a rainbow of colors that were so bright, I had to squint while looking at it. Unless it was the most sparkly piece of glass ever, Adrian had just given me a diamond the size of a large marble.

“There’s no way I can accept this,” I almost stuttered, adding, “Did you steal it?” because how else could he have gotten something that cost as much as several high-end cars?

Hints of darkness colored his laughter. “Former demon prince, remember? I might have left all that behind me, but I didn’t leave empty-handed.”

“You’re not a demon, you were just raised by them,” I muttered.

He shrugged. “Honorary demon prince, then. Either way, I can afford it. Besides, you lost your other necklace because of me, so don’t say you can’t accept this one to replace it.”

The necklace was so beautiful, a shallow part of me wanted nothing more than to put it on and run to the nearest mirror. I couldn’t, of course. For starters, I hadn’t looked into a mirror since the night I found out the hard way that some demons use mirrors as portals into our world. Plus...

“This feels like a bribe,” I said, holding the necklace out to him. “And you can’t make up for everything that’s happened with a shiny, expensive gift. Things aren’t good between us, Adrian. Not even close, and if I accepted this, I’d be implying that they were.”

He crossed his arms, his posture taking on a very familiar stubbornness. “I’m not trying to bribe you, I’m giving you a birthday gift. Throw it into the surf if you want, but it’s yours, so I am not taking it back.”

My jaw clenched. He might have been raised in an environment where money was no object, but I could no more toss this diamond into the ocean than I could burn a stack of hundred-dollar bills for warmth, and from the challenging curl to his mouth, he knew that. Still, that didn’t mean he was getting his way.

I folded the necklace into my hand and resumed walking. It didn’t take my enhanced peripheral vision to see Adrian’s smirk as he followed. He thought he’d won this round. Think again, I silently told him.

“So, if you’re rich, why did we only stay in crappy motels when we first met?” I asked as I kept walking toward Costa’s house.

He let out a laugh that managed to combine the lure of ecstasy along with the dangers of addiction.

“Because I was doing everything I could to kill the mood, not that it worked. Even in the ugliest surroundings, I wanted you so much that it almost killed me not to take you in every dingy room those crappy motels had to offer.”

“Stop it,” I muttered. Thankfully, Brutus picked that moment to fly past us and land in the tallest section of beach shrubs. I ran after the gargoyle, trying to soothe him as he attempted to cover himself with beach brush to avoid the sun.

“It’s okay,” I was saying when Adrian said, “Carparata!” loud enough to snap Brutus’s head up.

The Demonish word turned Brutus from a cringing creature into his usual, formidable self. The gargoyle might be my pet now, but to the bone, he still belonged to Adrian. After all, Adrian was the one who’d given Brutus to me as my protector. The fact that he’d done so when Adrian had thought he was sacrificing his life to save mine was yet another reason why he was so hard to evict from my heart.

Still, I wasn’t about to give up trying. “Here you go, my good Brutus,” I said, pulling out the necklace and latching it around his leathery wrist. Because of his size, it fit like a bracelet. “Something shiny for you.”

The gargoyle held up his arm, looking at the diamond next to his grayish-blue skin. Then he chuffed as if in approval.

“See?” I said, with a wide grin at Adrian. “He loves it.”

The glare Adrian gave me was priceless. Then, with a smile that was far too confident for my liking, he waved in the direction of Costa’s house.

“You can give my gift to Brutus and you can keep stomping off to Costa’s, but no matter what, I’m coming with you. Realm cracks are appearing and demons and minions are on the move again. You might have killed Demetrius, giving me the vengeance I’d wanted for years, but that didn’t take me out of the fight. I still live to kick demon ass, so I wouldn’t sit this out for the world, and if you know anything about me, you should know that. Besides, Zach’s probably aware of all this and waiting back at Costa’s for us. As you might recall, Archons may be nearly immortal, but they’re not very patient.”

CHAPTER FOUR

COSTA’S HOUSE WAS a former church, hence the hallowed ground it rested on that demons were unable to cross. The sight of its tall, slanted roof with the cross that Costa hadn’t bothered to take down filled me with a mixture of relief and sadness. I couldn’t say that I’d been happy here, but I’d felt safe, and that counted for a lot in this world. Now, it was time to leave, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see this place again.

Adrian was right; more people were at the house than when I’d left it an hour ago. My sister, Jasmine, seemed startled to see Adrian, but it didn’t escape my notice that Costa didn’t look surprised. I stifled my snort as we came into the kitchen. Had Adrian been in contact with Costa this whole time, too? Was I literally the only person he’d avoided these past couple months?

As I approached the table, Adrian pulled a chair out for me, but I ignored that. “I’ll stand.”

“Are you two fighting again?” Costa cast a knowing glance between us. “Situation normal, then.”

The other person I hadn’t seen in the past two months was Zach, but as Adrian had predicated, the Archon now sat at the kitchen table as casually as if he’d dropped by for breakfast. As with minions and demons, at first glance, you wouldn’t know there was anything unusual about Zach. His jeans and faded-blue hoodie matched his college-age appearance, and his dark brows, closely cropped hair and mocha-colored skin were a great frame for his deep, walnut-brown eyes.

One look into those eyes, however, and I couldn’t imagine anyone not realizing that there was something otherworldly about Zach. His gaze seemed to reach right into your soul, and if he chose to reveal his true nature, the room would be filled with exploding light and deafeningly beautiful voices. The one time Zach had dropped his human disguise to show me that, I’d unwittingly fallen to my knees with tears streaming down my face. You never realized how insignificant you were until confronted with a creature filled with the power and glories of eternity.

Archons—angels—were such creatures, so you’d think I’d be glad to see Zach. Instead, I felt a mildly growing sense of dread. Unlike their Hallmark Channel representations, Archons weren’t cuddly beings who spent their time sprinkling happy dust onto humanity. Instead, they were fearsome warriors who’d been relegated to the sidelines during the most important battle of the ages, so they were ready to fight no matter how that turned out for mankind. They were also our only allies against demons, so that made them indispensable to us regardless of their seeming indifference toward the fate of my race.

“I’m out of time, aren’t I?” I said in lieu of a hello.

Zach didn’t take offense. He’d probably invented the custom of not saying hello. “Yes. As the realm walls continue to weaken, new fissures are formed, allowing greater access between the dark worlds and this one. It is only a matter of time until those fissures rupture and parts of the demon world spills out into your realm.”

“I found that out the hard way,” I said with a sigh. “Three minions and a demon tried to nab me on the beach.”

Jasmine’s face paled and she ran over to me. “Are you okay? How did you get away? Did they know who you were?”

I gave my younger sister a reassuring squeeze, a pang hitting me as I looked at her. She’d always had my adoptive mother’s blond hair, but sometime during her hellish captivity, she’d grown a long white streak down the center of her head. Her pale blue eyes were the same color as my adoptive father’s, and seeing them reminded me of him so much, I had to blink back a sudden surge of tears.

Oh, how I missed my parents! They hadn’t deserved to die at the hands of minions and demons just because they’d been investigating Jasmine’s disappearance. Then again, no one deserved to die at the hands of demons and minions for any reason.

“I’m fine,” I reassured Jaz. “I got the first one, Adrian and Brutus took care of the rest. And they didn’t know who I was, at first. They were just looking for new slaves.”

Zach inclined his head in agreement. “The demons grow bolder as they gain more access to this world.”

Maybe it was the fresh wave of grief I’d felt over my parents’ death, maybe it was my fear over what I knew I had to do. Either way, I couldn’t hold back my brusque reply.

“Remind me again why Archons would allow terrible things to happen to innocent people when they have the power to stop it?”

The gaze Zach turned on me was hard. “A better reason than why your race would rather assign blame to others than work on looking for solutions yourselves.”

Yes, humanity had its flaws, but that didn’t mean we weren’t worth saving, dammit! And I still couldn’t figure out if Zach even wanted us to be saved. Some days, he acted as if he did, yet other days, the Archon seemed just as happy to let humanity burn if it meant finally ending the war between Archons and demons.