Lying still on her side, pretending to sleep, Ember didn’t hear when the door opened, but she felt the air move. She knew Acton was standing behind her.
“I know you’re awake,” he said quietly. “You should take a shower.”
Shuffling in the mess on the floor, Ember rolled over to face him. Her eyes fell on the rolled up pair of pants that had been her pillow, and she picked up a sock and stared at it. “Did I sleep in a pile of dirty laundry last night?”
Acton’s eyes moved around the room before he sighed and nodded. “Yes.”
She groaned, blinking as the light from the hallway struck up the headache that came with her every hangover. “Where am I?”
“This is my house.” He came into the room, kneeling down in front of her to help her sit up with her back against the wall. “I do most of my living out there, but this is where Zinny keeps our things. We each have a room, and this one is mine.”
“You don’t have any furniture,” she said pointedly.
Acton looked at her and smiled ironically. “You don’t even have a room. You don’t even have a house, or a family.”
Shrugging and nodding, Ember held her face in her hands. Her head was throbbing now, but at least she didn’t feel sick. Acton’s eyes wandered over her, wondering how long it would take before she felt well again.
He had never come to identify with a victim the way that Asher could, but he had turned several against their own families. He could hardly believe that she was in his bedroom. Having stolen her all the way from across the country, she was sitting in his bedroom. She believed that they were friends. Gina had practically gone crazy, disowned her, and then been banished from her own island.
It was beyond spectacular. Acton smiled; he had outdone himself, even if he hadn’t planned half of it.
“Come here.” He leaned in to wrap his arms around her, and she wrapped hers around his neck as he helped her to her feet. “Come on. You need to shower. I’ll find something for you to eat.”
He helped her to the bathroom, and got her towels. When he returned from Zinny’s bathroom bearing a selection of shampoos, soap, and conditioner, she smiled feebly at him from where she was sitting on the edge of the tub. She looked so weak and tired, almost as though she was about to fall backwards into the bathtub, but she smiled at him.
Acton hadn’t realized that he had paused. He set down the things that he had brought, and turned to go.
“Acton…”
He stopped in the door, looking over his shoulder.
She was running her fingers through her hair, trying to brush it out as she gripped the edge of the counter to stand. Unbuttoning her jeans with her other hand, she looked over at him again and smiled, shaking her head.
“Thank you. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“You’re welcome.” He closed the door behind him.
The water was sobering. She let it run hot over her face and body, wondering what it meant to become one of Acton’s favored few. He had given her a look, just before he closed the door, glancing down as she had started to undress. It hadn’t been wanton. He was curious.
A boy had never looked at her that way before. She had never known any boys well enough that they would stop looking out of respect, even if they wanted to keep looking.
She washed her hair, wondering what her future held. For the first time in weeks, she was oddly hopeful that it might not be awful, or that at least she wouldn’t be alone. She might return to school, or she might not. Her fate was in Acton’s hands now, and though the thought made her smile grimly, it was a comfort not to have to make the decisions herself.
Wrapping herself in a towel, she realized that she didn’t have any clean clothes to change into. Still wrapped in her towel, she wandered down the stairs.
“Acton?”
She peered around the corner into the kitchen, but no one was there. She turned in the other direction, walking into the living room. There was a large sofa, and a love seat situated around a big screen television, but they were the only items in the room that looked new. Everything else was old but maintained—the house was furnished with antiques.
Acton was standing by the window. The trees had been cut back to allow for a rough perimeter around the house.
“Acton?” she asked, timidly stepping up next to him when he didn’t look at her or respond. After glancing uncertainly at his face, she readjusted her towel and followed his gaze out onto the rough between the house and the trees.
“Joseph is smarter than I thought he was. I thought he would come for me by now,” he said quietly. Looking over at Ember, he smiled. “I thought he would come for you by now.”
“Me?” she asked, scanning the trees again. She squinted, trying to see further in the dark, but it was no use. “Why would he want me?”
“Jealously.” Acton turned and walked back into the living room, gesturing for Ember to sit next to him on the couch. “The two of you were in it together, for my amusement. You were my favorite, and that’s a reason to be jealous. You were his favorite, too, but you picked me, and that’s another reason to be jealous.”
“I picked you?” Ember’s eyebrows rose. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know what Acton was talking about. She knew she was missing time, but she had only recently started to realize how much was gone.
“I did terrible things to you.” He leaned back, bringing a hand to his lips as he looked away across the room. “You were willing to go further than most people I’ve ever met. You were so desperate for the attention, and you’re stronger than I thought.” He leaned forward again, and Ember shifted uncomfortably, tightening her towel. “But those days are done. How did you sleep?”
He reached to touch her face, but she turned away, glancing back at him hesitantly when she realized that he might perceive it as an insult. Acton dropped his hand, and his eyes, looking at her legs for a moment before rising from the couch to pace back to the window.
Her heart was pounding as she stared at the elegant gold inlay on the coffee table, the ghost of Acton’s hand brushing her cheek sending goose bumps across her flesh. She wasn’t sure if it excited her or frightened her.
Realizing that she wanted to know, she looked over at him, preparing to speak.
“I’m sorry for the things I did to you,” Acton said quietly. Ember closed her mouth. “I won’t say it again, but I mean it. It’s important that the others see me in a particular light. And I know that you’re afraid of dying in a cage. I promise you that I won’t cage you. You can leave here whenever you choose to, and I will let you go. But I want you to stay, and I will take care of you.” He turned back to her. “I’m not going to change. I’m not going to become a kind person, or even a good one. I’ll never ask you to change. I will always want you, even though you’re broken. I like you that way.”
Wide-eyed and taken off guard, all Ember could do was give him a curt nod. “Okay.”
“Will you stay?” he asked, his jaw clenching.
Ember licked her lips, looking back down at the coffee table, and then quickly back up at Acton. She tried to smile, but it didn’t feel right. There was only one answer, because she had nowhere else to go. “Yes. Yes, I’ll stay.”
He didn’t smile. Returning her nod, he went to turn back to the window.
“But—”
He looked back to her. His stare was as intense as ever, and his eyes were still dead. They were like the eyes on a rabid dog, staring down a threat.
“What did you do to me?” Her voice was a whisper. “And what did you do to make Gina hate you so much?”
He considered her question for a moment, weighing how much he wanted her to know, and then went back to sit with her on the couch. He was careful not to sit too close.
“I took away your innocence, and your trust, and your life. I pretended to be your friend, and I was never your friend. I’m only your superior.” He hoped that she didn’t want the particulars. “You’ll never be naïve again, and you’ll never be
the same. But in return, I’m giving you a family, and I’ll watch over you, and that’s everything you’ve ever wanted. As to your second question, I did the same thing that you did to make your mother hate you so much. I did nothing.”
Ember nodded. He hadn’t answered the question. “So then, what are we now?”
“You keep asking that question…The truth?” Acton raised his eyebrows. Ember nodded. “I suppose that depends on you. What do you want to be now? Zinny says she wants a daughter, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Asher believes I should take you as a mate, and Isaac doesn’t want you around because time I spend with you is time I could spend with him. But I don’t care. I have no opinion on the matter.”
He returned to his station by the window. Ember found it hard to believe that he had no preference at all. He looked at her like he wanted to touch her. Some nights, he had slept next to her. Those weren’t things that one did with a friend or a sister.
“I need clothes.” She held her towel carefully as she got up from the couch.
“Borrow some of Zinny’s. Take whatever you want.” He refused to move from the window, but he gave her a small nod. “She likes you, and she’ll be honored. It’s the first door at the top of the stairs.”
Watching him hesitantly, Ember walked back up the stairs, and into the first door. There were clothes strewn everywhere, across every flat surface and strung over the head and foot boards of the bed. They were draped over lamps and the changing screen at the far end of the room. A red sheer scarf had been hung across the window, shading everything in scarlet, and a strong smell of mixed perfumes clung to the air. Quickly digging through the wardrobe closest to the closet, Ember picked out what she needed and retreated back to the bathroom to change.
When she went back downstairs, Acton was sitting at the table in the kitchen. Ember glanced back to the living room. “What about Joseph? Shouldn’t you be…?”
“He’s had all day,” Acton said, as though it should be obvious. “He isn’t going to come here while I’m here. He wants to catch me off guard.”
“So?”
“So, I’m going to let him.” He looked her over, seeming displeased with her choice of clothing, but he didn’t say anything. Ember glanced down uncertainly at the jeans and sweater she had pulled from the drawers. “You’re going to feed yourself, and then we’ll go out to look at the stars.”
“Not the bar?”
“Zinny is going to be reluctant to accept your decision to stay unless something makes it more final.” Acton stood and opened several cabinets, and Ember started looking through them for something to eat. “Until then, I’m avoiding her.”
She took a box of graham crackers from a cabinet, and then poured herself a glass of milk. “Do you eat?”
“Everything eats,” Acton responded impatiently. “Eat your food.”
“I’ve never seen you eat,” she accused.
“Yes, you have. You said it was disgusting.” He sat back down at the table. “I eat. I just don’t eat this. This is all for Zinny’s fetish.”
With a cracker halfway chewed and partly swallowed, Ember nearly choked.
“Fetish?” she mumbled through the crumbs.
Acton looked around the kitchen, every single object contained within it unnecessary to the way that demons lived. “She eats human food.”
Ember sighed in relief, finishing the cracker and then drinking her milk and digging back into the box for another cracker. “Please never refer to human food as a fetish again.”
“Why not? All of my foods are fetishes to you.”
Ember paused, rolling her eyes, and then looked up. Acton was smiling, and she realized that he was joking with her. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
“What do you eat?”
Acton didn’t respond.
“Tell me. I can handle it. I’m going to find out sooner or later anyways.”
Acton slowly folded his hands on the table, but then conceded with another quick smile. “I suppose you will, if you can keep up. Are you ready to go?”
“You’re evasive.” She responded, eating another three crackers in quick succession and then finishing her milk.
“I like you better when you didn’t know what was going on.”
She wiped her hands on her jeans. “I’m ready.”
They walked out of the house, and Acton carried her part of the way when her feet kept finding too many dips and roots on the ground. She tried to ask more questions, but Acton only gave her short, quick answers that made her believe he didn’t want to talk. When they finally reached the spot by the spring, she decided to try one last time.
“You don’t ever really answer my questions, do you?”
He let his hands linger on her waist for a moment longer than necessary as he set her down.
“I already know about me,” he said superiorly. “I’d rather learn about you.”
“So that you can use it against me?”
Acton only responded with a small smile before gently pulling her to the ground with him. It was cloudy that night, so there were fewer stars, and somehow the ground seemed soggier than usual.
“It’s wet here,” Ember said distastefully as the water seeped through the jeans she had borrowed from Zinny.
Without hesitation, Acton rolled her on top of himself. She stared down at him in shock, feeling their bodies pressed up against each other. She immediately pushed herself up and off of him, laughing nervously.
“I meant we should find a drier spot,” she said, shaking her head. “And besides, the grass is so tall here, it’s not like you can keep a good eye out for—”
“It’s private,” Acton said, looking slightly hurt. “And Joseph won’t come here. No one comes here but me and the hunters. This is where they dump the bodies once all the life is gone.”
Ember cocked an eyebrow at him. “Romantic. Thanks. Now I’m thoroughly creeped out.”
As her eyes darted around the expanse of the long grass they were lying in, Acton shook his head.
“Please, Acton, take me back—”
He sat up, watching her stand and start to look around. “We’ll find a different spot, but you’re safe with me. If you stay, I’ll answer questions for you.”
Ember looked back down at him, caught between worry and curiosity. She put her hands on her hips. “How many questions?”
Standing up, Acton pushed his hands into his pockets, trying to gauge how long it would take her to get comfortable. He could be very patient when the occasion called for it. “Three. Find your spot.”
He followed her around as she stepped carefully through the grass, ignoring him as he told her over and over that there were no animals hiding on the ground. After she had rejected five different locations, he finally caught her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. Trying not to be too obvious about it, he looked her in the eyes and smiled.
The hypnotism that demons could use against people was wide and varied, depending largely upon the skill of the purveyor. Asher had managed to put Acton under a handful of times when they had first met before Acton had bested him with his own trick of stealing free will to get him to stop. After that, Asher had become his mentor in the subject. Acton had never managed to get drunk, but Zinny had once described the effect as ranging from a natural high to an artificial one, but without the hangover.
Ember had become a special case in almost every trick Acton had. It was probably because she was a hunter’s daughter. He hadn’t been able to take her will, even though he had managed to take Gina’s a few times, and Thalia’s once or twice. Ethel was difficult, but he had managed to hint her out of the house once, only to have her stop, look around like she was confused, and turn around to go back inside.
Acton had discovered that he could hypnotize her, but unlike most people, she knew very quickly when her reality was shifting. As he stared into her blue eyes, he tried to hold back enough to make it seem like she was just relaxing.
Whether she knew or not, she decided to go with it. Perhaps she was starting to trust him after all.
“Here is fine.” She brushed her hair back behind her ear and smiled.
They laid down on the grass. Acton purposely didn’t touch her, but she curled up close to him anyways.
“The stars are beautiful tonight.”
Acton opened his mouth in confusion. It was still completely overcast. He glanced at her uncertainly, and she smiled back at him. She knew what he had done.
“Sorry.” He forced an uncomfortable laugh.
She rolled over to face him, smiling. “It’s okay. It’s kind of nice.”
As his eyes wandered over her face, he realized his opportunity had arrived.
“I wasn’t lying before, every time when I said you were beautiful,” he said quietly. This time, she didn’t pull away when he touched her face. He pushed, just a little harder, with the hypnotism.
Ember frowned, and for a moment Acton thought she was going to withdraw. She leaned down close to him, and their lips touched, just for a moment.
“Stop doing that…” she whispered.
Acton blinked, rolling onto his side to face her. “Okay. Sorry.”
He kissed her. She kissed him back. Encouraged, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, right up against him. She had her hands under his shirt, exploring his stomach and chest, and he only thought it fair to return the favor. He pulled away from the kiss and slid his hands under her sweatshirt to rest on her waist, pulling her on top of him as he rolled onto his back.
She laughed as she straddled him, and he smiled in victory. She leaned back down to kiss him again.
“I really do like you,” Acton said with another smile.
Ember was glowing as she smiled at him. “Let’s go swimming.”
She stood and took off in the direction of the water as Acton wondered exactly how hypnotized she was. Granted, he had pushed a little harder than he normally would have because he expected her to fight it. Apparently, she hadn’t fought.
“Ember!” He stood and started after her, catching her just before she ran into the ocean. The water was still that night, and there was no wind. “The water’s cold. You just think it’s warm because you’re high.”
“There’s a spring.” Ember said lightly. “That’s why there’s fog here. Where does the stream go into the water?”
Acton swallowed. His heart was racing, but he didn’t know why. His heart hadn’t ever raced, and if he didn’t know better, he would have thought that she had poisoned him.
“It’s over there.” He pointed. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get wet, because it’s so cold out—”
“Screw the cold!” She was running again, and taking off her sweatshirt as she went. Acton shook his head as he went after her.
Seeing her standing nude by the water’s edge, Acton stopped. In the dark, there was only the soft glow off of the thin spots of the clouds to illuminate her in filtered moonlight. Her short blond hair didn’t touch her shoulders anymore, and she had crossed her arms over her chest as she took her first step into the water, gasping.
“Em!” Acton warned. He dropped his jacket and stripped as quickly as he could without damaging anything. Ember was already in up to her waist when she dropped in all the way and started to swim. Acton panicked and took off after her. “Em, it’s dark!”
“You can see!” she called after him.
“It’s cold!”
“It’s not that cold!” she responded in exasperation.
As Acton swam closer to her, he realized that she was right; the place where the stream went into the water was warmer, but only if they stayed close to the shore. He had never bothered with the temperature of the water before, so he hadn’t noticed.
“Em!” He finally caught her arm, pulling her back toward the mouth of the stream, keeping her in the channel where the water wasn’t too hot or too cold. “You have a death wish…”
“I have a lot of living to do before I die,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You’re going to freeze when you get out.”
“You’ll take care of me,” she said, turning to face him. “And I’m not cold now.”
He thought he could see the stars in her eyes. Large and wide, she was staring right at him. He didn’t even know how well she could see in the dark, but it seemed she was mostly guiding herself by touch as she lifted her hand from the water to find his face. She found his lips and kissed him again.
Feeling the beating in his chest reach an almost human pace, Acton quickly subdued the fleeting thought that he needed to stop. He had never known a demon to die of a heart attack, or anything besides a bonfire, but he had never known a demon’s heart to reach such a pace, either, and it was painful. He hissed as he felt her lips on his neck.
“Em…” he said quietly. “This is the hypnotism.”
She stopped, laughing quietly in his ear. “You tell me. You really think you’re that good at it?”
His pride took the hit, and it didn’t anger him. She pulled back to look him in the eye, suddenly seeming completely sober. He didn’t answer.
She didn’t seem inclined to stop, and even as the aching behind his ribs continued, he didn’t really want to stop her. She had her arms around his neck, and he could feel her body pressed up against his in the water, skin on skin, as she lifted herself off the ocean floor to match his height.
He nearly lost his balance on the mossy stones, and she hugged him tighter. Kissing her neck, he looked over toward the shore and realized that they weren’t alone.
He immediately turned so that Ember’s back was to the shore. She was so preoccupied that he doubted she would have noticed anyway.
Creeping through the trees on all fours, a skeleton covered in a thin film of flesh was approaching the water where they had come in. He hadn’t had time to properly regrow himself, and the skin was as featureless as a plastic doll; no fingernails, no hair, and no nose. Just two lidless eyes and a gaping black hole of a mouth on the face of a ghostly pale body with no fat. He scrambled toward them on all fours, like an animal.
Acton kissed her hair as Ember wrapped her legs around his waist, and he wondered how Joseph could even imagine that he stood a chance in the fight.
As the pathetic creature stopped by the water, making no effort to hide himself and waiting patiently, Acton realized that he wasn’t there to fight. Joseph was offering himself back into service. Having met the hounds, he wanted protection.
For a moment, Acton considered his offer. With Joseph by his side, the games didn’t have to end with Ember. He could seduce her for the first time over and over, and it was a pleasing prospect. However, Joseph hadn’t been smart in not coming to him directly. He had chosen to fool Isaac instead, and that made him a liar and a threat.
Without so much as lifting a finger or blinking, Acton thought the actions into reality. Joseph went to his jacket, lying on a rock by the water, and pulled out the little canister of lighter fluid that Acton kept in his breast pocket. He lifted it over his head, and a thin stream of death came pouring down over his head and shoulders. Then he went back for the matches.
As he stood and struck it, his mouth opened wide to scream, but no sound came out. There couldn’t be any sound, Acton knew, or the mood would have been broken. He finally knew what Ember was to him, and he couldn’t risk losing her.
He felt a shudder run down his spine as Joseph’s panic hit him. It wasn’t like human panic, because there was nothing that could compare to human panic. Joseph stood still, like a mannequin, as the flames consumed his paper-thin skin. He hadn’t had time to fully regenerate, or he might have been more difficult to burn. He hadn’t even had time to regenerate his nerves, and there was no pain.
It was the only detail that could have made the moment more perfect.
Joseph fell to his knees, still trying in vain to scream as the flames grew larger and hotter, slowly melting away the skin,
and then the few muscles beneath. His left arm dropped from its socket and into a useless pile at his knees, and then his spine gave way.
Acton felt his throat go dry. He wanted to share the beauty and the torment with her, but he knew she wouldn’t understand. Or, perhaps she would. She had surprised him before.
Her skin was pressed up against his, and her fingers were in his hair and digging at his scalp. With her thighs pressed against his hips and her arms tight around him, he pressed his lips against her neck. It all felt so natural. She said his name as his arm tightened around her waist, and he watched Joseph slowly burn.