Demons at Deadnight (2011), page 4
“Little help?” I said.
“With what?”
I rolled my eyes. “I need to get to the locker room.” I pulled on a lock of my hair and lifted a foot. “I’ve still got dried bits of yuck in my hair, blood and goo on my shoes, my socks used to be white, and let’s not forget I’m caked with sweat. I stink, I’m tired, and I want to clean up and put on my own clothes. Got it?”
His brow knitted. “An erratic but not illogical request. However, I understood we were going to the cafeteria.”
“Oh.” I looked around. “Am I headed toward the cafeteria?”
“No, but you don’t know where you’re going anyway. Understandable, considering—”
“Then why didn’t you say something?”
He gave me a blank look. “You didn’t ask.”
I searched his face for smug condescension but perceived nothing but earnest concern. Give me smug and condescending. I could explode at smug and condescending.
During the embarrassment of being carried across campus, I’d ignored my surroundings, including Sir Galahad here. Now I could see he looked ready for Malibu and his relaxed attitude added to the surfer-boy effect.
Tall and lean, he wore long khaki shorts, a plaid shirt open over a green tee, and blue flip-flops. Long hair, almost purple in its blackness, hung straight and photo-shoot shiny just past his shoulders. I expected him to produce a surfboard and call me “Brah” any minute. But all those idiosyncrasies didn’t freak me out as much as the fact he reminded me so much of the guy who’d tackled me yesterday. Gorgeous and exotic.
“Do you feel nauseous?” Jayden asked.
And very odd.
“Uhhh, no.”
“Faint, dizzy?”
“I’m fine.”
“Do you like bears?”
“What?”
“Bears. Do you like them?”
“Are you some sort of lunatic?”
“They seem to like you. I believe it was pursuing you.”
Okay, maybe not a lunatic.
“Have you noticed any unusual smells in the past twenty-four hours?”
Never mind. This guy was definitely a few clowns short of a circus. I turned away and headed down the hall.
“Just get me to the gym.”
The flip-flopping started up behind.
“Perhaps you’ve noticed some aberrant—”
“Jayden!” a voice cut him off.
I whirled. And saw double. Okay, not double exactly. My leather-clad hero from yesterday stood next to Jayden and the similarity between the two was freakish.
“Matthias is looking for you,” Mr. Exotic told Jayden.
“This is Aurora,” Jayden said.
The guy nodded in my direction. “Glad to see you upright. Jayden, you need to—”
“Aurora, my brother, Ayden.”
Light bulb moment. Brothers. Made sense. Ayden flashed a distracted smile. My stomach fluttered. Aftereffects of the demon attack or pheromone overload from Ayden’s presence, I couldn’t be sure. He was wearing the leather jacket again. It looked good.
Ayden chucked his brother on the shoulder. “I’ll take Aurora to the cafeteria and you go meet up with Matthias.”
Jayden brushed back his hair. “She requires a clothing change. We’re proceeding to the gymnasium.”
A flicker of tension ghosted across Ayden’s handsome features. “Later. I’m sure she’s starving after her whole bear thing. I’ll take her while you—”
“Unnecessary.” Jayden waved a hand. “Matthias can wait.”
“It seemed time sensitive.” Ayden’s eyes widened briefly.
“Then you can assist him.”
“He needs your expertise.”
Clearly there was some subtext that Jayden and I were missing.
“I’m sure you’ll prove adequate,” Jayden said.
But at least I knew there was a subtext.
“He doesn’t want adequate, he wants—”
“Are you twins?” My gaze ping-ponged between them. They both stood over six feet, with Ayden being stockier in comparison to Jayden’s lanky frame. And Ayden carried a tightly wound tension lacking in his brother, like a car in neutral but with the accelerator floored just waiting for a flick into gear to send it fishtailing through life.
“Yes. Very good.” Jayden nodded. “But not identical. Fraternal. We developed from two distinct eggs. Identical twins develop from the splitting of one egg and—”
“I know,” I said. “I’ve got a pair.”
“Of eggs?” Jayden said.
Ayden closed his eyes. I would’ve needed the Heimlich maneuver if I’d been eating.
“No.” I shook my head. “No, I—”
“Because you’ve got far more than two,” Jayden said in a lecturing tone. “In fact, girls are born with approximately two million eggs patiently awaiting puberty to—”
“Ooookay.” Ayden slung an arm around Jayden and gave him a rough squeeze. “Why don’t you leave something for Sex Ed class, huh?” He raised one finger and plastered on a smile. “Excuse us a minute.” He dragged Jayden down the hallway where they spoke in harsh whispers.
I made my escape, anxious to ditch the fraternal funny farmers, taking several quick turns to get some distance between us. I remembered Jayden going up a flight of stairs when he carried me to the nurse, so I went down, and down some more.
With so many twists, turns, tunnels, hallways, and stairways this place could swallow a small country without feeling full. I found myself in the bowels of the school, following a windowless hallway, musty and dripping with an uncomfortable edge. I followed a burning smell to a staircase at the end of the hall. Voices and laughter. Good. I turned up the stairwell.
And froze.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jayden and his brother started looking pretty good because scattered on the stairs and landing the dregs of young male humanity were waiting for me. Well, not waiting. They looked as startled as me, but that quickly changed. Conversation stopped. Their gazes crawled over my body. Predatory grins slid across their mouths, finding comfortable ground.
Smoke curled from cigarettes. The jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies looked clean enough and basic grooming was evident, but a sense of sleaze cloaked the group. Five I could see, but voices came from the next flight of stairs. More faces surfaced over the wall above.
A couple of “Ooooh’s” vibrated the air before one familiar looking guy, the bully who’d kicked the ball at P.E., held up a hand. Silence smoothed over.
“Hey there.” He wasn’t the biggest, but alpha-male authority clung to him like cologne. He pushed off the wall and flicked the cigarette away, hitting another guy who jumped back, smacking away the smoldering ash spattering his shirt. Alpha didn’t notice. Too busy heading my direction.
Oh, joy.
I started back down the stairs but, like a rat, one of the entourage skittered down past me to block that exit. He reached out. My arm arced up and swatted his hand away, banging it hard against the wall. He glared. I shrugged an empty apology.
“Guess we’re not gonna be buddies,” I said, surprisingly steady considering my rising heartbeat.
Alpha shook his head at the rodent, who slinked back.
“No need to run off,” Alpha said in a soft voice designed to put me at ease. It didn’t. “You’re the new girl, right? We should get to know each other. Better.”
I gulped and glanced at my wrist, empty of any timepiece. “Maybe later. Right now I’ve got people waiting in the cafeteria.”
Alpha kept coming, slow, in no hurry, giving me the kind of smile I’d last seen on a Discovery Channel special. About crocodiles.
“Hmmm. I’m a little hungry myself. But I’m sure you could satisfy my appetite.”
Everyone laughed but me.
I smiled, my voice saccharine. “Gee, thanks, because gross and oh so subtle innuendo from a slime bucket like you contributes wonders to my so far fabulous first day.”
Judging from his expression, he didn’t appreciate the comment. My nostrils flared. The stale smell of sweat and tobacco, congealed with my own fear, threatened to choke me. Pinpricks of light sparked behind my eyes. Fainting? Not a good idea. Think, Aurora.
My back to the wall, I sized-up Alpha on my left, the rat-creep to my right, and took a deep breath. I could handle this. I was fast. With enough of a head start, I’d make it out. Alpha advanced. I gauged the distance when a kick would land my foot between his legs. At least I’d have the satisfaction of making him hurt before I escaped. Or they pounced. He was almost there. Almost…
Commotion above. A body leapt over the railing. A guy in a black leather jacket landed on his feet in front of me. Like a bomb exploding, the percussion of his arrival pushed back Alpha and his pack, but they steadied into position after the initial blast of shock.
“Ishida?” Alpha frowned. “What the hell?”
“Language, Herman,” Ayden chastised and gestured to Alpha’s mob. “We have ladies present.”
A few snorts of protest from the ladies, but Alpha—okay, Herman. But really, Herman? Who does that to a kid these days? Anyway, Herman just smiled.
Subtle movements of his head indicated Ayden was keeping tabs on everyone but me. He radiated tension coiled close to the surface, ready to spring. We were outnumbered. Why wasn’t I worried? Because as much as these thugs blustered, I’d bet the truly lethal threat stood right in front of me. I wasn’t the only one.
“What’s up?” Herman crossed his arms, worked hard—too hard—to look casual, and kept his distance. “You’re Mr. Low Profile. No confrontation.”
“I’d like to keep it that way. So should you. Another…incident and you and your girlfriends are suspended.” Ayden paused. “Again.”
Herman nodded. “Good point.” He jerked his chin toward me. “But I might risk it for that. She’s one hot piece of—”
Several squealing “Ows” cut him off. Lit cigarettes suddenly flared, burning the smokers’ hands. Butts were flung aside. Guys sucked their fingers. Herman rolled his eyes, shook his head.
“She’s with me,” Ayden said. A little he-man, but if it got me out of here… “No hassles, Herman. She and I prefer to be alone. You understand.”
A little sleazy but…
Herman nodded. “That makes sense, except for the part where you have a girl.” A short laugh. “When did that happen?”
“She’s been in town a while. We ran into each other. What can I say?” Ayden’s shoulder rotated a shrug. “By yesterday we were rolling around on the grass.”
I kept my jaw from dropping—barely—but couldn’t stop the tsunami of blood rumbling an inferno into my face.
“Is that so?” Herman raised skeptical brows.
“Ask her,” Ayden said.
Herman lugged his gaze to me. “Well?”
I calculated my options. It was kindergarten math. I gritted a tight smile and nodded, scarcely having time to mourn my reputation as it shredded into slutty strips. First priority? Getting out unharmed. Killing Ayden could come second.
Herman slithered his gaze over my body, lingering rudely in various spots. The croc grin returned. “Sorry, but I hate to miss out on a good thing.”
Several things happened at once. A hiss from above and a softball-sized orb of flames flew over the banister. The guy who’d tried to touch me earlier lunged from the right, Herman stepped back, and another boy rushed down from the landing on our left.
Before I could move, Ayden did.
He stepped back, body pinning me against the wall. His right hand snapped out with a viper-strike connecting with the rodent-guy’s throat. The kid went down. Ayden’s hand came back to settle protectively on my hip. He waited a pulse as the other boy barreled down from the left then he stomped on the guy’s instep, trapping it. Arms pin-wheeling, the guy pitched forward over his trapped foot. Ayden released the foot, grabbed the kid’s shoulder and shoved. Momentum helped catapult the guy down the stairs, where after a mid-air front flip, he crashed into his buddy who was grabbing the front of his neck, eyes bugged.
Without looking, Ayden raised his left hand and caught the mass of falling flames. He held it in front of him, unflinching as the lit pack of cigarettes flared, the fire splashing my face with heat. He curled his fingers to squash the flames, then crumpled the last pieces of charred remains, ash fluttering to the floor, burnt scent wafting strong. He stood cocked like a loaded gun with a hair-trigger, but Herman put up a hand to stop further action from his boys.
Silence, except for the guys on the floor. One lay curled on his side, moaning. The other made raspy choking noises while he clutched his throat and writhed around like a half-squashed bug.
Still jammed against the wall, I realized my arms were wrapped around Ayden’s waist, my cheek against his shoulder. When did that happen? I should probably let go. Ayden brushed his hand against his jeans to rid it of sooty debris then rested his warm palm on my hands with a reassuring squeeze. I was acutely aware of his other arm running down the length of my side, palm flat, fingers pressing into my thigh. Yeah, I should probably let go.
But I didn’t.
Herman’s forehead wrinkled as he observed his wounded comrades. “Jesus, Ishida, you gonna kill them too?”
“They’ll be fine.”
Herman folded his arms. “Well, forgive my skepticism. They wouldn’t be the first guys dead because of you.”
Tension pulsated through Ayden’s body. His fingers dug into my thigh. I stiffened for more violence but the moment passed. His muscles ratcheted down.
“If you think I’m so dangerous, then you’d better let us out of here. Now.” Ayden let the threat hover.
The rodent-guy managed to sit up and find the occasional breath to hurl anatomical suggestions at us which I wasn’t even sure were physically possible. The other guy only got as far as sitting up.
Herman flicked me a look. “What’s so special about her anyway?”
Ayden didn’t hesitate. “Like I said, she’s with me.”
After a few moments of dead air and staring, Herman said, “Prove it.”
Ayden looked hard at Herman. The alpha creep raised his eyebrows and smiled. Ayden didn’t.
“Herman,” Ayden’s tone turned flinty, “I’ll do whatever it takes to get her out of here. Unharmed. Now, you can get out of my way or…”
Rising testosterone clogged the air, churning into an ugly, violent brew.
Super. Just super.
“Oh, for crying out loud.” I grabbed Ayden’s jacket, yanked him around, and planted my lips onto his.
Ayden froze. But not for long.
With smooth grace and predatory speed he slid a warm hand across the exposed skin of my collarbone, under my hair, cupping my neck as the other arm encircled my waist, and he moved into me. His fingers tightened against my lower spine, pressed my hips closer.
My body went rigid. I couldn’t form a coherent thought.
This wasn’t part of the plan. An idea that involved pushing him away shimmered under the surface but…the kiss—which was rapidly becoming far more real than the fake quickie I had in mind—short-circuited that shred of sound judgment and let loose a growing tide of warm, pleasant sensations that rippled from within.
Ayden’s arms trapped me tight against the length of his hard physique. My eyes closed. Without consulting my brain, my body responded. One hand snaked around his neck, fingers entwined in his silky hair. The other moved around his back to caress and explore the endless contours of muscle coiling under my touch. My lips softened, yielding to the hungry give-and-go of his mouth on mine.
His hand, slow and feather-light, traced shivers down my neck, his thumb tickling the hollow at the base of my throat. My brilliant scheme to shut down a testosterone laden brawl had unleashed a whole new set of hormones.
And now I was in the thick of it.
A vague notion to break free was swallowed by an avalanche of intense heat, and desire snuffed out all conflicting emotions. My body craved the contact. Like molten glass, I molded into him. The roar in my ears deafened any surrounding noise. I rose on tiptoe and readjusted my grip trying to lessen the already complete lack of space between us. Ayden’s touch sent…lots of body parts tingling and hot.
Very hot.
With promises of pleasures I didn’t even know existed.
My stomach hollowed out then filled with a slow aching fever that slithered up from my thighs and coiled low in my belly. A tightening in my core made it difficult to breath, but I didn’t care as long as I could keep cresting this delicious wave. I didn’t know exactly where it was taking me, but I was happy to ride it out. I didn’t want it to stop. Ever.
But it did.
Ayden pulled away.
I opened my eyes, tried to remember how to breathe, and found his gaze smoldering, intense, intimidating. Wanting? I wasn’t sure. His eyes glimmered with eerie amber light, but when I tried to focus, the glow disappeared. My fingers still weaved in his hair, sensations still high, I stared at his mouth, full, inviting. I needed it back on mine. A satisfied smile twitched the corners of Ayden’s lips as his head lowered. My pulse kindled with anticipation of his touch.
Against some serious primal instincts, I pushed away and in a daze, slogged back to sanity through an unfamiliar swampland of sensuality.
Ayden dipped his head and traced his lips down my jaw sending nerve endings on fire. “I think they bought it.” His voice thick, breath tickling soft against my skin. “I know I did.”
I whirled to face Herman, managing a solid elbow into Ayden’s gut in the process, and allowed myself a brief smile at his grunt.
“Is that good enough?” I grimaced. “Because he isn’t as good a kisser as he thinks he is, and he could seriously use a breath mint.”
The rest of the guys hooted laughter, but Herman only leveled a grim, almost sad smile. Then he nodded and waved us off.
I grabbed Ayden’s hand and dragged us out, shoving past Herman’s boys with what I hoped was oodles of haughty indignation. Until I stumbled.
