“You what?” he prompted sensually, his rich brown eyes never relieving themselves from mine.
My eyes widened fretfully. In an effort to salvage whatever dignity I had left, I changed the subject. “I . . . you can’t keep distracting me.” I redirected my focus back to my book, my heart beating feverishly. “Just please leave me alone. I have work to do.”
“Hey,” Eclipse proposed delicately, pretending to not hear my last plea, “what do you say if we ditch the baby midgets today and spend some time alone?”
“Ditch the kids?” I repeated, turning to him once the shelter finally came into view.
He nodded, favoring me with a hopeful smile. “I have a lot of things I want to do for you and spoil you with. I could give you an unforgettable night, Gracie. If only you’d let me.”
I didn’t miss what he was insinuating. His words may have been innocent, but that carnal look in his eyes was anything but innocent. He wanted to put the moves on me and this in itself scared the living daylights out of me.
“If you haven’t noticed, I still get nosebleeds,” I reminded him in outrage, gaping at him like he had suggested we run around buck-naked. I hadn’t forgotten about my nosebleeds—I didn’t need a sequel to what occurred the first time he tried to kiss me.
“I’m not going to try and have sex with you, Gracie.” His appreciative eyes ran over my body. “But I’m sure there are other fun bonding things we can do that won’t result in your untimely death.”
“What happened to telling me not to tease you because you might lose control and kill me?”
“That was before I found out that a piece of your soul has been stolen,” he replied with slight bitterness. “I could control my desires then because I thought, ‘Hey, I’d get to sleep with her in no time when I turn her into a Demon.’ At that point, the wait, no matter how unbearable, was manageable because there was light at the end of the tunnel. Now that we’ve found out that a piece of your soul has been stolen, everything has been put on an indefinite timeline. As I’m sure you know, I’m not exactly the most patient guy in the world. Since everything in my life is screwing up, I might as well make myself feel better by fooling around with the woman I want, right?”
“Oh,” I began with a sarcastic expression, “so we’ll fool around until my nose starts bleeding, stop, and then try something new the next day until it starts bleeding again?”
A sly smile lined his mouth, bringing my attention to his supple lips. “Am I not worth a few nosebleeds?”
I shook my head, inwardly terrified because I was tempted to agree to anything he wanted.
“No,” I uttered, backing into the car door beside me. I knew what was good for me, and fooling around with Eclipse, basically fooling around with death, was not good for me in the least bit. “No way.”
“I could make it worth your while, Teacup.” As added persuasion, he bequeathed me with a sensual look that was so downright sexy that I could feel the beginnings of a nosebleed take form.
Momentary lapse in judgment found its way into me. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if I let him—
“They’re here! They’re here!”
The sexy, wicked smile that adorned Eclipse’s handsome face evaporated as soon as the high-pitched voices of the children came storming into our ears. The kids, whose small little figures finally appeared on the approaching sidewalk, sabotaged any seduction techniques Eclipse could’ve used on me. They were all giggling and waving happily at us as we drove towards them.
I thanked the fates for the kids and their overwhelmingly high-pitched voices. Hearing their earsplitting screams had saved me. Who knows what I would’ve done if they hadn’t interrupted “the mood” in time. I was grateful for them, but Eclipse, who was already scowling in distaste, did not appear as tolerant with the little ones’ presence.
“Hi! Hi! Hi!” they shouted excitedly, bouncing along the slow moving van once we finally came close to them. They were all wearing beanie hats, along with big puffer jackets that made them look like mini blowfishes. All wore different, brightly colored jackets that were rain proof in preparation for the gloomy weather. Looking absolutely precious, they continued to waddle alongside the van, blissfully unaware of Eclipse’s resentment.
“Bloody hell, their chipmunk voices are like nails on a chalkboard,” he complained under his breath, clearly not a fan of having anyone disturb him while he was putting the moves on a girl.
I agreed with his assessment of the kids and their annoying voices. Regardless, at that second, I couldn’t care less. I was more thankful that my nosebleed was stabilized with our new company. Relieved, I stared outside, cheerfully waving at the kids while expecting the car to come to a stop. To my horror, as we continued to drive past the curb and further and further away from Sanctuary, I realized in sheer panic that Eclipse wasn’t stopping to pick up the kids!
“What the flying pig are you doing?!” I cried at the top of my lungs, flabbergasted when he increased the speed of the van. Even OinkOink, who had been quietly napping in the back of the car this entire time, was whimpering in confusion after being woken up by my screams.
“Oh no! Where are they going?!” I could hear the kids’ bewildered voices. Their little faces were red as tomatoes while their tiny feet continued to bounce after the dust of the van.
“Eclipse, you shady ass Demon!” I exploded, my heart beating a mile a minute. I finally lost my cool. “Stop the car right now or I’m going to punch your face in!”
It was only at the threat of bodily harm that Eclipse bitterly conceded with his master plan to ditch the little ones. He begrudgingly brought the van to a complete stop. Once the engine became idle, he faced me. The sound of the children’s feet could be heard in the background as they ran closer and closer to the van.
After taking several seconds to assess my astounded face, Eclipse uncomfortably cleared his throat and explained, “I didn’t see them, Teacup.”
I scowled, seeing straight through his bullshit. “You didn’t see the baby midgets running after the car?”
He looked ready to embellish his lies. Unfortunately for Eclipse, when he saw the “don’t-you-dare-lie-to-me” glower on my face, he yielded with the lie and shook his head in exasperation. He stared indignantly at the rearview mirror. The excited voices of the children crashed like waves beside the van, indicating that they had caught up with us.
“As adorable as they are, those kids have the most annoying high-pitched voices that I’ve ever been damned to hear.” He paused, his eyes lighting up when an idea came to him. He gazed at me with enthusiastic eyes. “You wouldn’t mind if I gave all of them laryngitis for the day, would you? You know, just to keep them quiet?”
My jaw slackened. I gawked at him with incredulity. “You’re going to use your demonic powers on the children that I’m babysitting today?”
Once he deduced that there was no way I was on board with this suggestion, Eclipse cursed to himself. “I have an entire Kingdom that kneels before me in fear, yet I’ve been demoted to having to babysit kids who could rival hyenas with their screams. Fuck. Fuck my life.”
He sulkily unfastened his seatbelt and opened the door.
However embittered he was to hang out with these kids and their irritating voices, Eclipse was smart enough to mask this distaste towards his adoring fans.
“Hey squirts!” he greeted in his fake chirpy voice once he got out of the van.
He approached them in dark jeans that showed off the length of his legs, a white t-shirt that wrapped perfectly around his sculpted body, and white tennis shoes that made him appear more human than he actually was. With a charismatic smile that seemed to brighten up the gloomy skies above, he crouched down and extended his powerful arms out to them.
“Hiii Ashtray!” the kids cried with the utmost happiness, all stampeding towards him with adoration in their eyes. One by one, they all gave him a big hug as their greeting.
“Eclipse! I-I thought you were going to leave us!” Woo pan
ted, his chubby face red from chasing after the van.
“Me too!” the rest of the children agreed. It was amusing to watch them stare confusingly at Eclipse, whose charismatic smile never faltered.
“The brakes didn’t work,” he easily lied before jokingly pinching their button noses. “Of course I wouldn’t leave you guys. Who could leave rugrats as cute as all of you?”
Just like smitten puppies, the kids giggled and nodded, believing Eclipse’s every word.
As a witness to all of this, I couldn’t help but laugh. Eclipse may have been annoyed by their voices, but one couldn’t ignore the genuine endearment in his eyes as he stared down at them. I rolled my eyes, recalling all the mean stuff he was saying about them. It was amazing to watch him suck up to them now that he was in their presence.
God, he’s so fake, I thought with mild amusement. With that thought in mind, I put on my own fake cheery voice, stepped onto the stage, and acted right along with him.
“Hi kiddos!” I shouted, hopping out of the van.
“Hi Teacup!” they greeted at once, running over to me with the same jubilation. They smothered me with big hugs.
“Are you guys excited for the corn maze?!” I prompted, standing close to Eclipse once I was done hugging them.
Six little bobble heads bounced in confirmation.
“Okay,” I uttered, sliding the van’s door and helping them all in. “Let’s go then.”
One by one, Eclipse and I helped the kids in until we reached the last one and noticed how sad he looked. Unlike the rest of his friends, Sony did not seem as full of life.
“Hey Sony,” I called gingerly, assessing his unusually quiet state. “Are you okay?”
A forced smile appeared on his somber face. “I’m okay, Grace. I’m just tired.”
As soon as I heard his small voice, images of what his father did to me came deluging back into my mind. It was still so hard to stomach that someone as wonderful as Sony had such a bastard for a father. After these thoughts bombarded me, it didn’t take me long to surmise that his father may be the reason for his somber state.
Sony had always been a ball of sunshine, but the one dark cloud in his life would always be his good-for-nothing father. Although Sony wasn’t privy to the fact that I saved his mother and that his father tried to kill me, I had a good hunch that he must’ve at least known that his father found his mother—which was why he was so upset. For children like Sony, who had been relentlessly abused for such a large portion of their lives, hearing that their abusers were back in close range was one of the most horrifying things they could ever learn.
My jaw clenched in protectiveness. I wanted to tell Sony not to worry, that his father would never hurt his mother or him again because I had taken care of everything. Before we left last night, I had Eclipse move his father’s unconscious body to another city in Korea. We made sure that he had no I.D. on him when we did this. I wanted him to be alive—to perhaps stay in a vegetative state for the remainder of his life—and I wanted his presence to be far away from Sony and Mrs. Lee. That miserable excuse for a human being did not deserve to breathe the same air as Sony and his mother, much less reside in the same city.
I felt the inexplicable urge to assure Sony that his father would never hurt anyone again, but I didn’t know how to express it all.
My internal struggle proved to be irrelevant when Eclipse smiled at him and casually said, “Hey squirt, do you want to sit up front with me? Teacup needs to study, which means that she’s a bore right now. I need someone to keep me company up front.”
Sony’s eyes brightened at the offer. Nervously playing with his glove-covered hands, he smiled tentatively at me. “Is that okay, Grace? Can I take your seat?”
“Yeah, of course!” I replied encouragingly, relieved to see Sony’s little world light up at the prospect of sitting up front with Eclipse.
If I couldn’t cheer him up, then I was certain that the Demon of Lust could.
With my confirmation, Sony smiled gratefully and hopped into the passenger seat. Once we were all seated in the van, Eclipse took off driving, steering us towards a destination that would cheer up everyone’s dreary day.
●●●
Skell’s Halloween Corn Maze.
If you were to gaze down at the cornfield from an aerial point of view, you’d be amazed to discover that the corn maze was carved into the shape of an enormous Halloween pumpkin. Opened a little over a year ago, the corn maze had become a “must-visit” attraction for people all over the country during Halloween.
Although I held no personal interest in wanting to visit it, this type of attraction was something that really excited the kids. They had been looking forward to this fieldtrip all month, and as soon as we stepped in, I knew that they were going to have the time of their lives.
The entire venue was decked out in the finest Halloween decorations. In the main gathering area alone were dozens upon dozens of decorative pumpkins. Everywhere you turned, you’d spot scarecrows, mummies, skeletons, and an assortment of other fun Halloween decorations. Fake fog hovered over the corn maze as the heavy crowd moved around us, buzzing with the utmost excitement.
Eclipse and I were originally overwhelmed with all the madness. Surprisingly, as time went on, we slowly found ourselves laughing and enjoying the maze with the kids. As I consulted the map and took them on an adventure within the corn maze, the six baby midgets (along with OinkOink) waddled after Eclipse like little piglets would after their father. It was the most adorable thing. People around us were even cooing and “aww”ing at the sight of such cute kids following after a guy that most of the women coined as the “sexiest babysitter” they had ever seen.
“Hey Teacup, I’m going to take the kids to the haystacks to play,” Eclipse said a few hours later, standing up after we ate a dinner that consisted of burgers and fries. The kids were already standing up from the bench with him, eager to follow him to the haystack. “Why don’t you stay here and study?”
I straightened in my seat, uneasily looking at the kids and then at him again. Although I wanted to accept his offer because I really wanted to use the free time to study, I found myself hesitating. It felt irresponsible to have a Demon babysit the kids without me there. “But—”
“I’ll be a good babysitter,” he assured, reading the reluctance on my face. “You just finish your school work so you won’t be boring on the ride back.”
And with that lovely comment and a flash of a wink, Eclipse took off with the kids and OinkOink in tow.
I stared after them as they veered through the crowd and headed for the haystacks. He was a jerk for calling me boring, but I appreciated Eclipse’s intentions nonetheless. I was grateful to have another chaperone. Although I didn’t trust Eclipse with the kids before, I knew there was no one better to watch over them than the Prince of Hell himself. Eclipse might not admit it, but it was undeniable that he adored these children. I imagined that the Demon of Lust didn’t care for much. On the rare occasions he did have an attachment for something, he would take care of it unquestionably. This trait alone was what assured me that the kids were more than safe in his care.
After spending about an hour on my presentation for my public speaking class, my eyes were beginning to get blurry. I tiredly rubbed my eyes to clear out the fuzziness. Finding that my vision was still foggy, I relieved the strain from my eyes by taking in the sights around me.
Things had changed since I last paid attention to the place.
An ocean of shadows now blanketed the once ashen sky, completely swallowing any shred of light. The only exceptions were the beams coming from the nearly full moon. The demonic laughter from the attraction’s speakers was still ringing sinisterly as people ran out of the maze, laughing amongst themselves while heading to the food stands.
I was enjoying people-watching when I caught sight of two familiar looking baby midgets. Both were holding hands and holding the orange souvenir flashlights that Eclipse and I bought them. Th
ey were also running at full speed towards the corn maze. It took me a while to actually register what was happening. I kept staring until it hit me—
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” I shouted on impulse, nearly having a heart attack at the image of the little ones bouncing towards the corn maze without Eclipse chaperoning them. Oh my gawd! I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that careless Demon to watch the kids! Adrenaline filled me as I folded my presentation paper into my pocket and raced after them. “Kimmi! Sony!”
Upon hearing my shrieking voice, the kids stopped at the entrance of the dark maze.
“What are you two doing by yourselves?” I cried upon reaching them. My burgeoning eyes resembled that of an owl’s. “Get over here now!”
“Teacup,” Kimmi whispered brokenly, staring up at me. Her big brown eyes rippled with tears. Sony stood beside her, sympathetically patting her shoulder. She motioned helplessly towards the maze. “I-I lost my necklace. I think I dropped it in there. Anni and Lulu made it for me. I-I have to find it.”
I gave her a stern look, still catching my breath. “And you couldn’t ask me or Eclipse to help you find it?”
“Eclipse was taking us to the bathroom,” Sony began to explain. As he spoke, Kimmi sniffled quietly and avoided eye contact with me. “Lulu and Anni had to go really bad, and so did Woo and Timmi. OinkOink went in with Lulu and Anni, and Eclipse went in with Timmi and Woo. Kimmi and I were waiting outside when she said her necklace was missing. She didn’t want the twins to know that she lost the necklace they made, so I told her I’d help her find it without letting them know she lost it . . .”
I let out a long breath, rubbing my temples in frustration. I understood that Kimmi was desperate to find the necklace before the twins got wind that she lost it, but I couldn’t relinquish the severity in my voice.
“And you two think it’s safe and responsible to run in by yourselves?” I asked critically. “Why didn’t you come to me? I would’ve gone in with you.”