Bitter Sweet Love

Chapter Twelve

By the following evening, I was ready to be out of bed. I was giddy over feeling like myself again. Well, I didn’t feel a hundred percent, but I also didn’t want to sleep for another ten years, and after a quick shower, I called and checked in with my father and Danika, and made my way downstairs. The house in DC was much like mine. More the size of a hotel than a home, but the key difference was that there was no sign of children or women here.

The house was tomb silent.

I’d eaten in the room, devouring the food Dez had brought me for lunch, but that had been hours ago and I hadn’t seen him or anyone else since. I knew others were here, unless I’d been delusional when I was sick, which was possible.

Standing in the hallway downstairs, I was seconds away from seriously believing that Dez had left my butt in an abandoned house, when a door opened behind me. I spun around.

An older gentleman stepped through the door, closing it quietly behind him. Gray peppered his black hair and his light brown skin was heavily creased. His soulful brown eyes met mine, and as he passed me in the hall, a warm smile crossed his face.

He disappeared out the front door, never saying a word.

“Okay,” I murmured.

Turning around, I headed through a wide archway and into a large sitting room. I moseyed around restlessly until, tired anew, I sat on one of the massive, supple-leather couches. My mind immediately went to what was going to happen next. Our seven days were up and I hadn’t given Dez an answer.

Dropping my head, I rubbed the back of my neck. The unease in the pit of my stomach was like the pukwudgie’s poison, spreading until a fine sheen of sweat covered my palms. I wished I could slip into my true skin and take flight. Things always seemed to make more sense in the air, but Dez, wherever he was, would flip out. DC, much like New York City, would be overflowing with various demons. And although dusk was still hours away, it would be risky...

Since when had I started worrying about what Dez would think again?

The answer was obvious. From the very moment he’d swaggered back into my life.

My head hung on my neck like a wet noodle. The words formed in my thoughts before I could stop them. I was still so in love with him. During the three years he was gone, that love had turned to heartbreak, but it had never diminished.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Lifting my head, I sucked in a sharp breath of surprise.

Standing in the doorway was a tiny girl, barely coming in at five feet. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen. Then again, she might’ve been younger. She was so small, and I’d never seen anything like her before.

Hair that was so blond it was nearly white cascaded over narrow shoulders. Her lips were too full for her round face and her eyes were large and wide, like one of those exotic porcelain dolls I’d seen in shops before, but it was the color that was most shocking. They were such a light gray they were almost void of color. The vivid, unnatural beauty of the girl gave her away.

She had to be the half Warden, half demon that Abbot had adopted, the girl rumored to be able to steal the souls of humans and Wardens alike simply by breathing. She was an urban legend among Wardens, her existence not something I ever truly believed in; but Hell, I’d been wrong, because there she was, peeking around a door at me.

My heart rate picked up as I stood. For humans and Wardens, dying without a soul ended the same way. One became a wraith, doomed for eternity, existing between Heaven and Hell, plagued with endless thirst and hunger that ultimately manifested in a vengeful and violent spirit. The possibility of death without your soul was not something to take lightly, and I wanted out of this room. To be near something so deadly and dangerous raised the tiny hairs all over my body and caused my human skin to stretch tight.

She inched into the room slowly, as if she was waiting for permission. In the silence, she eyed me with unabashed curiosity. “Hi.”

Her voice was soft and unsure. I said nothing as my gaze fell to the open doorway. I could easily get past her. She didn’t look as if she could lift a chair, but with demons, looks could be deceiving.

Hello, pukwudgie.

“You’re Jasmine?” she asked, reaching up and clasping the edges of her pale hair with tiny fingers.

Moving around the couch, I put more space between us. Seemed unreal to be backing away from such a delicate-looking thing, but I liked my soul where it was―in my body. “I am.”

A wide smile broke out across her face in a stunning display, and for a moment I wondered if all the rumors were untrue, if maybe she was half angel instead of half demon. But no. “I’m—”

“I know who you are.”

The girl blanched, her skin matching the color of her hair at the unintended harshness in my tone. Or maybe it was intended? I couldn’t fathom why Abbot would allow something like her to roam freely through his home.

Her eyes widened further, taking on a shiny sheen before she ducked her chin, dropping her hair and picking at the necklace she wore, twisting the chain around her fingers. A pang of shame prodded at me, burning like a hot poker.

“Zayne and I were going to get ice cream,” she said after a few seconds, staring at the floor as she shifted her slight weight from one foot to the next. “I thought that you might like to come with us.”

My mouth opened, but there were no words. She was inviting me to go get ice cream? I’d slipped into an alternate reality. Before I could speak, a blond Warden entered the room, his easy grin spreading into a smile.

Zayne—the very object of my sister’s ever-growing crush.

One did not have to wonder why Danika was so attracted to Zayne. Wearing a light gray shirt, he was tall and built like all Wardens were, but he was an especially impressive specimen. His shirt clung to hard muscles and a lean waist. With that head full of blond waves and high cheekbones, his sculpted face could easily be mistaken for that of an angel’s. Zayne was divinely gorgeous, but my eyes... well, they’d always been focused on someone else.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Layla.” Zayne walked right up to the half demon, displaying no fear whatsoever, and draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to his side. “I’m ready if you’re...” He trailed off, his gaze narrowing on her and then flipping toward me. One look at me, and his handsome expression tightened in understanding. “Layla, why don’t you go wait for me in the foyer.”

She lifted her head and glanced at me. A small smile appeared on her lips and then she scampered from the room, gliding as fast as a shadow.

Zayne turned to me, legs spread and shoulders tensed, just the way Dez stood when he was angry. “Layla is nothing like what you think or have heard.”

I didn’t even have to ask how he suspected that our little meet and greet hadn’t been pleasant. The fact that I was hiding behind a couch like a total tool, looking as if I wanted to fly out of the room, was probably a dead giveaway.

He eyed me with cool, unfriendly pale eyes. “She won’t hurt you. The very idea of hurting anyone or anything would never even cross her thoughts.”

Flushing to the roots of my hair, I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

“Layla’s not dangerous.” His gaze held mine, refusing to allow me to look away. “She’s more Warden than she is demon.”

My skin pricked with uncomfortable heat. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting to see her. I didn’t even think she was real. She’s... she’s really not a threat?”

Zayne stared at me for a long moment and then blew out a deep breath. As he finally looked away, he thrust his hand through his hair. “Unless you plan on kissing her any time soon, she’s not a danger to you.”

“Kissing her?”

“That’s how close you’d need to get for you to be concerned about losing your soul,” he explained. “It’s not like she just needs to breathe the same air as you. She needs to be close—that close.”

Well, since that wasn’t in my future plans, I nodded. Shame still burned like a flame inside my chest. God, I felt like a bitch. If she took a soul in that manner... the poor girl could never kiss. “I really am sorry. She seems like... like a nice girl. She invited me to ice cream.”

Zayne didn’t look surprised. “The other clansmen don’t want her in the main home with the other females and children. That’s why she’s here, in our headquarters, and there aren’t a lot of females that visit us here. She’s been excited to meet you since we heard that you were coming with Dez.”

Yep. It was official. Now I felt worse.

“I told Dez we were heading out. He said he wanted to come. You’re more than welcome to join us, but if you say one thing or act in any way toward Layla that is even remotely cruel—”

“I won’t,” I said quickly. “I’d love to join you all.”

He nodded curtly and turned. Feeling like a troll, I sighed and followed Zayne to the foyer. He went straight to where Layla waited in the corner, pressed against the wall and so incredibly small that if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t have even seen her. My gaze followed hers to where Dez stood by the door.

Relief poured into Dez’s features as he looked at me. “I’ve been meeting with Abbot. I would’ve come back earlier if I knew you were out of bed and—”

“It’s okay.”

“Are you feeling up to going out?”

“I feel fine.”

I glanced back at Layla. Curiosity marked her face. There was also trepidation, as if she expected an identical response from Dez. It couldn’t be easy for her living among Wardens. I knew that most had to have behaved the way I had. Sympathy rose inside me. That girl could not have had an easy life.

Dez smiled at the young girl and though it didn’t reach his eyes, she smiled back—hopeful. He was wary, but he hid it a lot better than me.

“Everyone ready?” As Zayne spoke, he reached down, wrapping his much larger hand around Layla’s.

“Yep.” Dez looked at me in that intense way of his, and for a moment I forgot about my embarrassing reaction. “You sure?” When I nodded, he said, “We’re ready.”

A different kind of heat flooded my cheeks as I glanced back at Zayne and Layla. The girl was staring up at the Warden, smiling in a way that was painfully familiar.

She smiled the same way I had every time I’d seen Dez—that smile of adoration and love. There was something incredibly sad about that because the obvious love Layla harbored for Zayne would, no matter what, end in painful heartbreak.