He drops his head even lower. “Oh. I… I think I might have screwed up.”
My eyes narrow. “Why, what did you do?”
He stands up and begins pacing in a circle. I move over to take his seat on the grass. “This is new for me,” he finally says.
“What is?”
“This…you…her…me….us.” He shakes his head in disbelief.
“You like her?” I whisper. I don’t even have to ask; I already know his answer.
He stares down at me with such intensity I momentarily forget to breathe; his dark blue eyes glow under the bright lights of Illyria’s full moons.
“Yes.” He comes to sit beside me. Any pleasure I might have felt by him sitting so close is negated by his response. Of course he likes her. All demons are ruthless unfeeling bastards who care only about themselves…
“But,” he continues, “I like you, too. To me, you and she are the same. I see you as one… I didn’t count on you being so completely separate from one another.”
“You really think Liora and I are the same?” My voice spits out the last word, my anger mounting. He may think he’s being nice, but to me, it’s the greatest of insults.
“No, most definitely not. I see now how you’re completely different. It’s just, well, a lot of demions—especially where I come from—they assume a normal Sapie guise in the daytime, leaving their demon activities for after sundown. I’ve even known several who use two different names…one for day, as a ‘human’, one for night as a demon. In essence, they are two separate beings from day to night. But you and Liora…this is on a whole other level.”
He shakes his head again. “I mean, I still can’t quite believe that the girl I’m talking to now isn’t the same one I was with all day today. It’s wild. I…I admit I don’t quite know what to do or say…”
“Sorry to make things so complicated for you,” I mutter. Why is he even still here? It’s clear which one of us he wants, and it’s not me.
Kieron places his hand on my knee. It feels good, but I brush it away. He sighs.
“Lucky, I had no idea that you weren’t…with us…today. That it was either one or the other—you or her. I kept waiting for her to say something—anything—that gave any indication she knew who I was. But she never did. Honestly, some of the things she said confused the hell out of me.” He pauses, appraising me. I look away, but can still feel his intense gaze.
“At first I couldn’t figure out why you…she was acting the way she was,” he continues, “but then I finally decided that maybe it was just your way; how you cope with what you are…you play a different role during the day than you do at night. I admit I thought it was sort of extreme, but I figured you had your reasons, and if you weren’t going to say anything then neither was I.”
“I’m not playing. This is not a game for me.” Why is he still talking?
“I know that now. I mean…I knew something was up when she became so worried about the dark. I didn’t realize that’s when you’d ‘trade places’— that part was quite unexpected. But when I saw her run, well, no demion would run that slow. And earlier she slipped and fell. No demion would ever do that.”
“So you solved the great puzzle. Congratulations.” I stare up at the twinkling stars and make a wish for one to fall on my head and put me out of my misery.
“Lucky…” He says my name so tenderly it wakes up the fireflies in my stomach. “I meant what I said earlier. Although you may think of yourselves as different identities, I only see you as one. I cannot distinguish the difference.”
“Then you’re beyond blind.” And stupid.
“No, just the opposite. I see you better than you see yourself. And I like what I see. A lot. I…really like you. All of you.”
I roll my eyes. Typical guy. Why settle for one girl when you can have two? “So you want to be with us both, is that what you’re trying to say? You think you can have two girls for the price of one?”
He lets out a low chuckle. “I’m thinking it may be more along the lines of ‘one girl for the price of two’…but…I...I want us to be friends. I want to be able to get to know you better…all of you…both of you. I may not do everything right, but I’d like to try. Are you willing to at least give us a shot and see where it takes us?” He gently returns his hand to my knee. This time I don’t push it away.
“You want to be friends?” I ask quietly.
He grins and lightly squeezes my leg, sending shivers up my spine. “For now…yes. I think it’s a good place to start. Until we know each other better…until I’m able to better understand how separate you two are.”
“We’re not totally separate, you know…I can feel a lot of her emotions and sometimes I can make her do things.”
“But she doesn’t have your powers…or your memories?”
“No, not usually.”
“And you don’t have any of her memories?”
I make a face. “Not if I can help it.”
He laughs. “I take it you don’t really like her very much?”
I look back at the sky. I am so not interested in opening up that suitcase of emotional baggage. “Well, I do admit I’m a little jealous of her right now. She got to talk with you all day, but I don’t know anything about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
Where do you come from? Why are you here? Why couldn’t you tell Liora wasn’t me? Do you like her better? Why did you say you like me? Did you mean it?
“What’s your Brand?” I finally ask. Best to start with the basics.
“Latros.”
“No way. Really? That’s…whoa. I’ve never met one of your kind before.”
He shrugs modestly. “It’s no biggie. What are you?”
“Aequitas.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “A Justice demon? Wow, remind me never to piss you off,” he says, laughing. “No, seriously, that’s impressive, though.”
“Not that impressive. My sire mated with a peace-loving hippie or something ‘cause… well, you’ve met Liora—all soft and sweet and emotional.” I stick out my tongue in disgust.
“Yes, she is,” he whispers.
I groan and roll my eyes. “Well you’d think they’d at least try to be somewhat compatible when they reproduce. Having two complete opposites for parents doesn’t exactly make for the most well-adjusted demion offspring.”
He laughs again and lightly grazes my arm with his fingertips sending shivers up and down my spine. “I think you’re just fine.”
“Thanks for the endorsement. But what about you…Who do you work for?”
“I’m sort of a free-agent these days.” He subtly avoids my gaze, but there is a guarded change in his tone.
“How? I thought all tracker-demons belonged to someone. You’re like…the best of the best…”
“It’s complicated. I’ll explain it later.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to read his expression. True, there is much about the demon world I don’t know. Hiding beneath the veils of secrecy, illusion, deception and lies is our way of life. But I’ve always believed that Latros demons— highly skilled, extraordinarily gifted, and extremely lethal bounty hunters—always have a master they’re bound to; they have no say in it. But maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
I can tell that he’s uncomfortable, so I change the subject. “How are you gonna break the news to Liora about who you really are?” I ask, absently picking at blades of grass beside me.
He furrows his brow and gazes out to the valley. “I hadn’t quite thought it through…It wasn’t like I was trying to keep it a secret or anything, I was just trying to figure out what was going on with you...I mean, her.” Then he frowns, clearly troubled. “Do you think it’ll be a problem?”
I laugh, taking pleasure at his naiveté. “Well, I have some bad news for you, Loverboy. She hates all things demon, and that includes half-breeds like you.”
“You mentioned that, but I just assumed you meant our lifestyle. How
can she hate demons when she is one?”
“Because Liora is not a demon. She’s one-hundred-percent pure human. The only demon she has in her is when I break through. And even that’s hard to do unless she wants me to do it, which isn’t very often.”
“So, you’re telling me she dislikes all demons and demions even though she shares her life and body with one?”
I let out a loud sigh and shake my head. How can someone who is so cute and supposedly so brilliant and talented be so dense? But I’m secretly pleased at his predicament. I already have to share my life with Liora. I don’t want to share Kieron with her, also.
“No, I’m not telling you she dislikes them, I’m telling you she hates them. She blames us for something awful that happened a while ago. Of course, it’s silly to hate an entire species for the actions of a few derelicts, but what can I tell you…she’s basically a big, fat, demon bigot. You’re deluding yourself if you think she won’t despise you if she finds out what you really are.” I know I sound smug, but I don’t care. It’s true.
Kieron is clearly unnerved by this. He stands up and walks over to the cliff. Running his long fingers through his hair, he stares out to the valley below.
As much as it bothers him to hear it, he needs to know the truth. It’s far better he find out from me than some other way—like if Liora’s into him and he just comes right out and tells her he’s a demion….
I roll my eyes, picturing how well that little bombshell would go over. And I’ve already had about all of her nonsense I can take.
“So there’s no chance of you putting in a good word for me?”
Unfortunately, he’s not looking at me and can’t see my annoyed expression. “Sorry, no Cyrano de Bergerac here. You’re on your own, Romeo.”
“Sorry I asked that,” he says a moment later as he sits beside me again. “This must be…very hard for you. In your mind, it’s as if I was concerned for another girl entirely. As if my feelings are directed at someone other than you…”
I shrug. “Yeah…”
“Well, they’re not. Never forget that,” he whispers in my ear. Then he quickly, lightly, kisses my neck, sending shivers of fire and ice racing through my blood.
“I’ll try. No promises, though.” I try to make my voice stern, but I can’t help smiling. Just friends, huh? True, it was just a quick, soft peck below my earlobe. But I’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss him ever since I woke up in his arms in Baymore Park. Maybe we can be ‘kissing friends’…
But just thinking of Baymore Park strikes a chord in my memory. I turn my face to his, mere inches away.
“I have a question for you…” I start, trying not to let myself get distracted by the fact that I have an insatiable urge to run my fingers through his thick, lush locks and pull his mouth to mine. Focus, Lucky! “Last night, at Baymore Park, with the Altrumina…how did you happen to be there?”
He presses his eyebrows together again and sighs. Then he looks away, but not before I see a dark flash in his eyes.
“Kieron?”
“I had no idea this would happen when I came here. This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he says, almost as if he’s speaking to himself.
“What wasn’t…and why won’t you answer my question? What were you doing in Baymore Park?”
He finally turns to face me, and I’m stunned to see how hard his face is. His jaw is rigid, his lips pressed tight. But it’s his eyes that surprise me the most. They’ve suddenly gone from clear and open to dark and foreboding.
He sighs again and locks his gaze on mine. “Actually…I was following you.”
His answer confuses me, and my body stiffens; I don’t know if I should be flattered or creeped out.
“I don’t get it…why were you following me?” My eyes feel as wide as one of Illyria’s moons.
He takes a deep breath again. I notice he’s removed his hand from my knee and is tightly clenching the grass behind him. “Because it’s my job.”
“What?” My heart starts to race. If he’s saying what I think he’s saying…
“I came here for you,” he says, quietly.
“Why?” My question is barely a whisper.
“I came here…to kill you.”
******
Every cell in my body instinctively shifts into high alert, but I don’t flinch a muscle. If Kieron plans to take me out, he’s in for one hell of a fight.
“I’d love to see you try.” My mouth is shaped in the sweetest smile I can muster, but my eyes are bright with pure demonic fury.
“Well obviously I’m not going to. I would’ve done so already.”
“You would have tried,” I counter. “Nice ego just assuming you’d win.”
Latros demons are tough, but I have my own talents. Each with our own strengths and weaknesses, we’d be pretty evenly matched unless…
I let out a horrified gasp and jump to my feet. “Is that what you’re doing with her…us? Looking for weaknesses?”
How could I be so stupid? How could I think for one second that this demion was any different than the rest? Friend, my ass!
“No,” he says quietly. “I only knew there was another demon—you—interfering with my bounty. I came here to eliminate that interference, as I normally would.”
“So what’s stopping you?” Every fiber of my being is ready for a fight; my fingers twitch anxiously, ready in a split second to grab my dagger from my boot. But Kieron remains passively on the ground.
“I have no desire to kill you…or her. Especially not her.”
“Especially?” I sneer. “Gee, thanks.”
“Only because I’d never kill a human. And that’s what she is. At least you have the Powers to defend yourself.”
“That’s right – and don’t forget it.” Even my hair feels like it’s on fire as I focus on controlling my rage. My heels dig into the soft ground. This whole thing with Kieron was a set-up, a trick…
“Lucky, please relax. I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to hurt you, and I certainly don’t want to kill you. I only told you the truth because we have a situation we need to sort out-”
“The only thing that needs to happen is you need to stay the hell away from me. And Liora.” My eyes are angry slits and my voice shakes with rage. Silently, I will Kieron to stand up and attack me. I want to fight. I want to smash his lying face in.
But when he rises to his feet, it’s not with the aggressive posturing I hoped for, but with regretful trepidation. I’m unmoved by the hurt in his eyes. He’s nothing but a dirty demion here on a mission to kill me, who just happened to get sidetracked by the circus-freak sideshow that is my life. I’ve had other demons come after me before, but they’ve never gone through Liora to get to me. This is a whole new level of low.
“Lucky, please listen to me, I understand why you’re upset, but you have it all wrong.”
“Guess I’ve been wrong about a lot of things lately,” I say, storming away. I need to get out of here and away from him now.
“I knew from the first night I came to Demon Bar,” he calls out. “The first time you entered the room…I knew you were special…I could feel it in my soul. The Deveni’s told me you were the one I was seeking, and they were right. But before I’d even spoken to you, I knew my mission was off…that I had to find another way. That I needed to know you—”
I stop walking and spin back around. First, he uses me and lies to me, now he’s talking to me like I’m some idiot schoolgirl. Does he want to die tonight?
“You’re lying. I remember the first night you were in Demon Bar. I saw you. You sat in the corner and didn’t turn around once. There’s no way you saw me. Nice try.”
Kieron takes a tentative step toward me. “I’m part Latros demon, remember?” His small smile causes my insides to smolder. Now I don’t know who I’m madder at: him for being a lying snake bastard; or me for still being affected by his sexy grin.
“Yeah, so? What does that have to do with…?”
/> Suddenly, I remember something Ivy mentioned to me long ago, when she was explaining to me how her eyes are able to see through solid steel...
“Wait…Do you really have the three-sixty vision? You can actually see out of your whole head?” I ask, my curiosity briefly outweighing my animosity.
He nods, taking another small step. “I was watching you the whole time. After you left, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I knew I needed to get to know you. But I wasn’t sure how. I tracked you to Liora’s school a few days later, and that night I waited for you to return to Demon Bar. And then…” His voice trails off.
“And then…what?” My voice is lower, less angry. More apprehensive.
“I followed you,” he confesses. “You ran off with your friend, the hellhound. I heard you cry. I saw your pain as you mourned for your friends…your human friends. I…I’ve never seen that from another demion before…”
“Yeah , well, that’s her fault,” I mutter. “Told you she gets all emotional.” My humiliation at having him witness such a private moment is only slightly tempered by the compassion in his eyes.
“I understand what drives you to do what you do. Why you hunt other demons.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“Trust me.” His face unexpectedly fills with pain. “My mother, my human mother, was murdered while I was forced to watch. The demons who did it took their sweet time, and I was powerless to stop them. I was six years old, but it may as well have happened yesterday.”
As I hear these words, my anger slowly subsides. He’s not seeking pity. He’s not making excuses. He’s only offering his understanding.
He drops his head and returns to his seat on the cliff. I stare at the back of his head for a long moment, wondering if he’s watching me. But I no longer want to leave. I don’t even hate him anymore. He’s seen the same horrors I have. He’s experienced the same unspeakable suffering. He’s felt the same horrible feeling of powerlessness so alien to most of our species.
He’s lost someone he loved. Just like me. A kindred spirit. Tatiana told me about them one time when I was little.
Slowly, I wander back to where he sits, and kneel beside him. Close—but not touching.