He ignored her until they were in a cab. Then he spoke to the cabbie. “The airport. I’ll give you an extra fifty if you break any laws to get us there faster.” He was, after all, still a demon.
“Why are we going to the airport, Davyn?”
“It’s a surprise, honey,” he said, less for the cab driver’s benefit, and more because the look on her face was priceless. He leaned in close. “Patience. It’s a virtue. I know, normally the best reason to ignore something, but in this case it means you need to shut up and wait.”
“Will whatever you’re planning kill me?”
He paused. “I don’t think so, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take. Don’t worry about cash, this one’s my treat.”
“As if that’s what I’m worried about.” She cursed and crossed her arms, scooting all the way over to the other door, pouting.
Davyn had been to airports plenty of times. Loved the smell, the chaos, the panic of someone with a too-short layover. But this time felt different. Maybe because it was different. Because of her, and what she was going to give him.
“Where are we going, Davyn?”
“Somewhere.” He tossed a few bills to the driver and followed her out the door.
“Can you be more specific?” She looked at him as if he was crazy.
“No, because I don’t know or care. We’re going somewhere. Anywhere. It doesn’t matter, as long as we have to go up to get there.”
She grinned as she slowly understood. “You have to use your glamour to travel, so you’ve never flown.”
Flown. Even the word made him want to crack a smile. There wasn’t much he wanted and couldn’t have, at least until recently. But this—flying—was something he’d wished for from the very first moment he’d seen the sky. It was everything hell wasn’t—quiet, windy, peaceful. A natural habitat for angels and birds, a place humans could take their pets if they wanted. But he couldn’t go there, even after all he’d gone through to see it. Until now.
He walked slowly, watching the sliding glass door open and allow them in, everything unknown and exciting from this perspective.
“Why not?” she asked. “There are flights shorter than an hour. Or helicopters.”
“Helicopters don’t go high enough, and I don’t actually know how I’ll react in a different atmosphere. Setting fire to an airplane would cause trouble. The boss always seems to find that kind of stuff out.” Even standing in line for a ticket was great, the anticipation immense. More than he could ever have imagined. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“I’ve never seen you this happy before. It’s weird.”
His glared only lasted a second. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been this happy before, and a second was all he could last without being overwhelmed by excitement again. Flying was a freedom demons could never experience, unattainable even for the strongest of them. The sky, the domain of angels, creating a desire so powerful most of his kind couldn’t even bear to look up at it.
Davyn could. He’d found someone who was able and willing to do this for him. The realization was uncomfortable to say the least, but nothing could make him walk away now, even knowing it was the smartest thing to do.
“I can help the next person in line.” One of the ticket sellers motioned them to her station.
“That’s us.” He only realized he was holding the hunter’s hand when he reached for his wallet. She seemed to realize it a moment later, grimacing, both of them yanking their arms back at the same time.
When had he taken hold of her? And why? No, thinking about that would ruin this experience. He’d deal with it after. Now he had a plane to catch. “Two tickets for somewhere about...” He should err on the side of caution, especially since the hunter wouldn’t be able to phase off the plane if he set it on fire. The other passengers probably wouldn’t be very happy, either. “Less than an hour away.”
“Sir?” the ticket agent asked.
The hunter stepped up to the desk. “When is the next flight to San Diego?”
“In about an hour and forty minutes.”
She looked at him. “You have anything else to do today, Davyn?”
“There’s nothing on earth I would rather do than this with you.” He’d added the last bit because it literally wouldn’t be possible without her, but the woman from the airline seemed to take it as a sign he was enamored with the hunter. She tilted her head, smiled, and made a soft vowel sound. He kept the vowel, and all other sounds he might have responded with, to himself.
Humans had a nasty habit of wanting everyone to join into couples. Not just physically, which made sense, but emotionally as well. He found it ironic, knowing it was far more often the emotional that tore the couple apart. If they kept it physical only, the race would be much better off, and a lot more powerful.
“I need a window seat though,” he told the hunter. “It has to be a window seat.”
“Do you have any window seats?” she asked the agent.
Mildly awed, he listened to her reserve two places on tonight’s last flight back to San Francisco. He wouldn’t have thought of that. Two ways. Two chances to be in the sky, the clouds, somewhere he could never go without her.
“Honey?” she asked, her tone syrupy sweet. “She needs your ID and credit card.” He handed them over. “No bags.” Every time she looked at him, she smiled. But when she looked back to the attendant, her face smoothed into seriousness. He much preferred her smile.
She handed his cards back to him and slapped a boarding pass into his hand.
“Thank you,” he said to the agent.
“Enjoy your trip.”
He would. He’d enjoy every fucking minute of it. Taxiing, takeoff, flying above the clouds at five hundred miles an hour, peanuts or pretzels. Every bit of it.
Except for the lines. “Why do humans like to stand in lines so much?”
“We don’t. It’s a necessary evil.”
“I know about necessary evil, and lines are not part of it.”
“As soon as we get through security, you should get something to eat.”
“Do they have special kinds of food in there?”
“Not really. But you’re already heating up a bit.” She held their hands up. He unlaced his fingers from hers and pulled back as if she’d burned him.
“For fuck’s sake, hunter, I don’t want to hold your damn hand.”
“Then don’t grab it.”
He stared at her. “Really?” She nodded. Too human-ish. Way too damn human-ish. “The next time I do it, hit me as hard as you can…in the face…with your boot.”
She smirked. “Gladly.”
Twenty
Keira wasn’t sure if her jaw hurt from grinding her teeth or trying to keep her mouth shut. While not a demonologist, she knew Davyn—probably more than he would like, definitely more than she liked. That’s what happened after spending this much time either trying to stay alive or to kill someone. It had to be a bonding exercise in some culture or another.
But Davyn like this? Unbelievable. He was practically shaking, his eyes going everywhere at once, his focus on who knew what. Not danger, that was for sure. And the way he was looking at her—minus the handholding, she was trying her best to forget the handholding—seemed like gratitude, an impossible emotion for demons. But then, flight was impossible for demons, too.
The line was long for security, but they had plenty of time. “Take off your belt and your shoes.” Then she dropped the volume of her voice. “I’m assuming you aren’t carrying anything else.” Lucky bastard didn’t need anything else. Not when you had fire in your hands and were immortal.
It had been physically painful to get rid of her knife. She always carried a weapon and felt naked without it. Adding that to their last trip made two times she’d felt naked around the demon. That was really, really unfortunate on many levels.
She’d be fine, though—everyone knew you could pick up a stake anywhere.
Well, maybe not everyone knew that.
The woman in front of them struggled to lift her enormous, polka-dot carry on one-handed, her other hand occupied by her cellphone. Davyn scowled, grumbled, and growled until he lost it. Before Keira could grab him, he lunged forward, picking the woman’s suitcase up and chucking it onto the conveyor belt.
“That’s a pretty big bag of fake feminine helplessness you have there,” he said loudly. “Next time pack lighter, so no one has to cart it around for you.”
“Go to hell.” The woman’s anger vanished as soon as she saw the demon straight on. “Oh, wow.” Whoever she’d been chatting with was forgotten. “Thanks for your help. I never know what I want to wear…or not wear.” While she took Davyn’s mischievous smile for flirtation, Keira knew better.
“Davyn, if you do it,” she mumbled. “I’m turning around and going home.”
“But she could help me stay cool.”
“I can help you stay cool, too…unless I’m home having a beer and putting my feet up.”
“I’m a big guy, hunter. I might be too much for you to handle all on your own. She could take some pressure off you. There’s a lot I could do with her.”
The woman’s stare never left his face.
“Knock it off.” Keira smacked him in the chest and shook the woman’s shoulder to get her attention. “If I could give him to you, I would. Really. But he’s way more trouble than he’s worth. Seriously, the term ‘bad boy’ doesn’t even come close to being accurate.” She smiled. “Tell her what you do all day, Davyn.”
“I fuck with people’s minds. And eat.”
“Uh huh,” Keira said. “And what comes to mind when you think about having sex with a woman?”
“The ninth circle of hell.” His look of distaste knocked the entire flirtation idea out of the other woman’s mind. “Burning. Torture. Lots of stuff I can’t talk about.”
“See what I mean? Burning. Itching probably too, if you know what I mean.” Keira looked up at him, so she didn’t laugh at the other woman’s expression. “Sure, he’s pretty, but you don’t want to go there.”
After they passed security, they headed towards their gate, grabbing eighty dollars’ worth of food along the way.
Davyn stopped suddenly and turned to her. “Take this.” He handed her bag after bag, hanging them from her wrists, stacking smaller items in her arms. “If I conserve my glamour now, it’ll be easier on you while we’re in the air.” The last thing he gave her was his boarding pass.
After shoving the other half of a candy bar into his mouth, he said, “If you eat it all, I will punish you, hunter,” and headed for the restrooms to disappear. Doing anything supernatural in front of humans was the worst infraction a super could do. Execution for mortals, expulsion from earth for immortals.
Keira set the food down on an empty chair and ripped open a bag of chips. Invisible to everyone but her, Davyn took the long way back, wandering through the seating area, stopping next to a little boy. Both of them put their palms on the glass and looked out the window.
The longer they waited for the flight to be called, the more time she had to get nervous. What if she couldn’t handle it? Choosing between the entire plane catching fire or her internal organs being roasted wasn’t tough—she’d be dead either way. But it was a choice she’d prefer not to even contemplate. She should tell him she couldn’t do it, that it was too risky, too much.
He came over and sat down next to her. “You’re not wussing out, are you?”
She put in the pretend earpiece to her pretend cellphone. No need to attract attention as the crazy lady talking to herself. “Maybe we should start with something less potentially fatal until we’re sure I can handle the pain.”
“You can handle it. Yeah, the last time I actually put some heat in you, you passed out. But afterwards, you were fine and didn’t even remember any of the deviant things I did to you while you were unconscious.” He winked. “You were great by the way. Seriously. That mouth belongs in a museum.”
“You don’t care about me being in pain at all, do you?”
“Not really. You were the one who wanted to make a deal, knowing exactly what I am. After you felt my heat, I gave you a chance to back out. You refused. A deal is a deal. The only way to back out now is to die, so we have up until that point to work with. Besides, there is a plane full of minds to tap if you need a break.”
In all his excitement, she’d totally underestimated her role. He’d be having a great ole time while she’d be in terrible pain the whole time. But he was right—they’d made a deal, and the absolute worst thing you could do was renege on a deal with a demon. Whatever happened would make death look like a reprieve.
“Are you afraid, hunter?” he asked quietly. “I can’t stop thinking about how you died—the first time. Did it create a phobia in you?”
She didn’t respond right away, more concerned with why he thought about her at all versus her answer.
“If you’re…” He seemed to have to force the words out. “I’ll choose something else if this is too much for you.” Wow. That had to be a first.
“I’m not afraid. What happened after that knocked all the fear right out of me.”
“It’s rare to find a human who actually knows their own mind.”
“I guess I’m lucky then.”
He glanced at her. “Very rare—almost impossible, actually. Probably been a few decades since I met one.”
“What do you mean?” Or know. “Did you sneak into my head?”
He stretched his legs and shook his head. “I’m good at my job because I read people well. I look at who they want others to think they are versus who they actually are. It’s a lot more predictable than seeing someone’s thoughts, especially with humans because they’re so stupid when it comes to themselves. The unconscious tells give us away—who we speak to or even look at. Is it someone nonthreatening?” He shrugged. “They make others feel more powerful, more in control. Or maybe they gravitate towards someone in authority. Like seeks like—people are attracted to those they think they belong with, their psychological equals, whether they actually are or not.”
“What does that say about you and me?”
“We’re the exception. Our attraction is solely based on two facts: I’m amazing and your ass is almost as good as mine.”
“Almost?” She laughed.
“It’s really close.” He nodded. “I’ve been coming to the airport for over forty years but have never been in the boarding area. Your kind has no idea how lucky you all are. You can fly like the angels. Every day if you want to.”
“So that’s why you picked this—to fly.”
“Air transportation is a very new thing—comparatively speaking. I’ll be the first demon to do it. It’s too risky without some way to vent, and there’s a limit to how much you can tempt people in an airplane.” He looked at her for a moment. “This will be the closest to the Great Beyond I’ll ever be.”
“You mean heaven?”
He grimaced. “No. Heaven can go to hell, for all I care. It’s said the Great Beyond is named that because it is beyond the clouds—with the earth but also apart from it. Just like seers and the other races—you’re all of the earth but not a part of it, not entirely anyway. That’s why you all go there, unless you do something unbelievably stupid that gets you pulled under. If a demon really fucks up, they are sent to the lowest level of hell for eternity. Been there. Don’t want to go back. It sucks.”
“That’s how I feel about this place sometimes.” Not that it compared. She’d gone through as much as a human could, but she had no idea what Level Nine was like, or what Davyn had done to get out of it.
“This is paradise,” he said, shaking his head. “Humans have an incredible amount of freedom. You get to decide what you want to do and who you want to be. But the saddest thing is, you’re all so scared of becoming that person and still not being enough that you don’t even try. You stay put, trapped inside someone you don’t want to be. Someone you resent for k
eeping you stuck.”
“Give us a break.” She shrugged. “We’re only human.”
“Exactly. Which means you only get one shot at it. Why not at least try to make it a good one?”
She’d expected him to make a joke or insult her humanity, not make her question who she was. “You act as if it’s easy to completely change the way we view ourselves and the rest of the world.”
“Compared to what I did to get above the crust, you better fucking believe it is. Demons don’t get that choice. Our utopia is the place you all think is shit. The lowest an angel and all but .0025% of humans will ever go—that’s as good as it gets for us.”
Keira sat back and thought about where she’d been and where she was now. Not a day went by that Lamere didn’t fill her thoughts—revenge, hatred, pain, loss. She wasn’t imprisoned anymore, but she wasn’t living either.
Everyone had a choice, if they were strong enough to make it.
Twenty-One
When they called for the first-class group to board, Davyn disappeared and came out of the bathroom in solid form. He ripped the cellophane off a sandwich and ate as he took the rest from her and headed for the gate.
Once they were seated and settled, he rubbed his hands on his thighs. “You need to tell me before the pain gets too bad. Not when, before.” He jerked when the engines turned on. As the plane taxied away from the gate, he grabbed her thigh. He was close to human body temp, so she relaxed her shoulders.
“I’ll try not to hurt you.” His grip tightened when the plane’s tires left the ground and the angle changed. On the way up, his hand moved to hers, warmer but not hot. When they broke through the clouds, she heard him laugh. He looked at her, his jaw tight, emotion filling his face. “Thanks…for this.”
He might be the first demon to ever fly in an airplane, but she definitely was the first human to ever be thanked by a demon.
“You’re welcome.” They were both silent until the plane leveled out, the fasten-seatbelt light turned off, and Keira couldn’t handle any more silence.