A Demon Made Me Do It (17 page)

“
What about your father?” I
ask.

He gives me a funny look, and again
doesn’t answer right away.

“
Um…I don’t really know
him. He took off shortly after I was born,” he says after a long
pause.

Great.

“
Any brothers or sisters?”
I ask.
Please don’t tell me they’re dead,
too
.

He shakes his head. “Nope, only
me…that I know of. But I suppose anything’s possible.”

His strange answer makes me
think of my own father, or more accurately, my
Creator.
For all I know I have
dozens, maybe hundreds, of half-siblings running around that I
don’t even know about.

“
Yeah, I’m an only child,
too,” I say.

He turns to stare at me, one hand on
the wheel. The intensity of his gaze takes my breath
away.

My eyes widen.
“What?”
What?!

An easy smile replaces his
serious look. “Nothing…so it’s just you and your…
grandmother
?”

I swallow hard. I’m marching on some
dangerous territory, all of my own doing. If I hadn’t started
asking him all those questions about his family…

“
Well, yeah, Tatiana isn’t
my biological grandmother…she just took me in after my mother died.
It’s just been the two of us ever since.”
Make that the three of us.

“
Hmm.”

“
You’ve always lived here?”
he asks a few moments later.

“
Yup.”

“
And you’ve never been up
this way before?” His eyes are sparkling again, and the tension
eases from his brow.

“
Nope. I’ve been to some
places outside of town, but I usually stick close to the woods
around my cabin. My Mustang isn’t exactly built for
off-roading.”

He flashes me a delicious smile that
reaches his eyes, sending the butterflies fluttering in my stomach
again. “Well, then, you are in for a real treat.”

The twisty road narrows even tighter,
and Kieron turns onto a smaller, unmarked path… one more suited for
hiking than driving. The trail is so closely lined by trees and
bushes on either side that if someone were to come at us there
wouldn’t be enough room for both cars to pass.

But this doesn’t bother me. I’m too
enraptured by the gorgeous scenery. Trees arching over us create a
lush canopy of sage-colored silk, and bushes ripe with brightly
colored flowers grow everywhere. It’s as if we’ve pulled into the
entrance to an enchanted kingdom, unspoiled by human
hands.

He drives slower now; the truck
bounces over bumps and holes in the uneven dirt road. The sunlight
peeks shyly through the overhanging trees, casting a muted
glow.

When we finally reach the top of the
mountain, the road flattens out. We seem to be truly in the middle
of nowhere, worlds away from where we started.

“
We’re here,” Kieron says.
“We have to go the rest of the way on foot. The truck won’t make
it.”

We get out. Kieron moves to the back
of the pickup and pulls back the protective tarp. Grabbing a large
bag in one hand and a cooler in the other, he nods toward the
truck’s bed. “Wanna grab those?”

I wander back to see what
he’s talking about. Peering in, I see two fishing poles, a net, and
a small tackle box
.

“
What…
this
?” I ask, incredulous.
Are we seriously going fishing?

“
Yes, please. All of it.”
His smile is so charming he probably could’ve asked me to skydive
naked over the Grand Canyon and it would’ve sounded like the best
idea ever. I’ve never gone fishing a day in my life, nor has it
ever
remotely
crossed my mind to want to.

Now it seems like the most perfect way
to spend the day.

Chapter 9.
Liora

“
Ready?” Kieron asks. I
nod, following him toward an opening in the trees. Taking full
advantage of my position behind him, I can’t help but secretly
admire his strong frame and steady gait. And how nicely his jeans
accentuate his backside.

He cocks his head to the side and
smiles. “How’s it going back there? You doing okay?”

I quickly avert my eyes and feel the
heat rush to my cheeks.

“
Everything’s great.
Perfect.” I steal one more quick glance.
Yep. Absolutely perfect.

“
It’s just a few minutes’
walk from here,” he says.

We weave through the trees and cut
through low lying bushes and shrubs. When we finally reach the
clearing, I gasp in awe.

Kieron stands beside me. “Not bad,
eh?”

I have to re-grip the
tackle box so as not to drop it. “Wow…just…
wow.
This place is…
incredible.
” I’m beyond
stunned at the sheer beauty of this private sanctuary, one truly
blessed with Mother Nature’s best.

It’s not just the abundance of
brightly-colored wildflowers—unusual enough for this time of
year—that makes this place feel so fresh and alive. Large
rocks—some jagged and high, some low and flat—reflect the sun’s
rays as if they were shiny diamonds tinged with flashes of silver
and gold. A narrow river carves its way along the embankment,
finally careening off the mountainside to the lake below. Even from
up here I can see fish leaping out of the water.

“
Come on, let’s go over
there,” Kieron says.

We head to the river’s edge, near the
cliffs where the view is nothing short of spectacular. We can see
for what seems to be hundreds of miles.

It’s like we’re on our own planet…in
our own miraculous Garden of Eden.

Kieron takes the poles and net from me
and sets them on the ground. He opens his bag and shakes out a
large blanket. Then he sits down on one side of it, stretches out
his legs and angles his face to the sky.

I slowly stroll through the field,
losing myself in the fragrant flowers and the hum of the waterfall.
Up here, I feel far removed from all the craziness below. I can
pretend that all my problems, stresses and worries don’t really
exist. Right here, in this magical place with Kieron, everything
can be perfect.

After a while, I again turn my gaze to
his still form. Like a wondrous element of nature’s beauty, he
stares peacefully at the river, looking as content as a lizard
sunning itself on a warm rock.

I make my way back to him and take a
seat on the blanket. “Now what?” I ask. He said he wanted to talk,
but so far he isn’t saying much.

He turns to me, a smile on his face.
“Now, we fish.”

******

My feelings for Kieron must have some
magical hold over me, because even the disgusting act of hooking
bait and the mundane act of sitting by water holding a pole is
absolutely thrilling with him by my side.

Soon after dropping my line in the
water I feel a gentle tug. Kieron shows me how to reel in my catch,
and for a moment I’m proud of my accomplishment. But when the poor
fish struggles to breathe, fighting for its life, I feel bad and
throw it back in the river where it belongs. Kieron teases me for
being a softie, as he reels in one of his own and sets it on the
ground beside him.

“
Do you know what these are
named?” I ask him.

“
Rainbow Trout.”

I raise an eyebrow and give
him a knowing look. “Yes, but that’s just their common name. Their
scientific name is
Oncorhynchus
mykiss
.”

He leans his face to mine and flashes
a mischievous smile. “I only understand the ‘my kiss’ part,” he
says, raising his eyebrow flirtatiously.

I give a nervous laugh and look away,
cursing my fair complexion that I’m positive is turning bright
pink.

“
This is fun,” I say,
trying to change the subject. “I wish I could come up here more
often.”

He leans back on one arm. “Who says
you can’t?”

I sigh. “Well, because, you
know…we’re
supposed
to be in school. And since I always have to be home before
dark it wouldn’t really leave me much time...”

“
Why do you always have to
be home before dark?” He peeks at me from the corner of his eye;
his voice smooth, sexy, and the slightest bit amused.

Here we
go
. I take a deep breath and recite my
well-rehearsed lie. “Tatiana is completely blind. Since it’s just
me and her I’m the only one who can take care of her. She doesn’t
like to be alone at night.”

He nods, and a moment later asks, “But
how would she know?”

“
Huh?”

“
If she’s blind…how would
your grandmother know if it’s dark or not?” This time I’m
positive
I hear amusement
in his voice.

My pulse quickens as I grit
my teeth and stare out at the river. This is
exactly
why I can’t ever have normal
friendships or relationships. People get nosy.

“
Me being home by dark
isn’t for her, it’s for me. I hate wearing a watch and lose track
of time easily. But my grandma is elderly and likes to eat dinner
early and go to sleep. So I make it a rule to be home well before
then so that I can take care of her.” The lie comes easily, as I’ve
used it countless times before. This doesn’t make me feel any
better, though. Just once I wish I could have an honest
conversation with someone.

He pauses, as if sensing my
discomfort. “Okay, I understand. I promise to have you home in
time,” he says quietly, fiddling with his fishing pole.

“
But I enjoy being here.
Even if our reason for not being at school today is such an awful
one…” I say, trying to steer the conversation away from
me.

“
Why do you do it? Go to
school?”

So much for that idea.
“Well, because I
have
to. I promised Tatiana I’d graduate.”

“
Why does she want you to
go?”

“
Well,” I pause, slightly
unnerved by his odd questions, “because whose parents or
guardian
wouldn’t
want their child to at least finish high school? I mean, I
know we’re a small town, but we’re not
that
hillbilly.”

He laughs. “No, that’s not what I
meant. I mean, what does she want you to get from it? Education?
Friends? Social skills? A diploma for her wall?”

“
Oh. I, uh… she just wants
me to have a normal life like everyone else, I guess.”

“
And how’s that working out
for you?”

I pause. “What do you
mean?”

“
Is it working? Are you
having a normal life like everyone else?”

“
I dunno. I guess so,” I
whisper, my heart pounding.

“
I see. And is that what
you want? To be normal? Is that what makes you happy?”

The corners my mouth turn down as I
stare at the ripples in the water. How can I talk to him without
sounding like a complete nut-job? My initial impulse is to lie. Say
everything is great. I love school, have fantastic friends, am
eagerly looking forward to college in the fall, and already have a
sorority picked out.

But as I turn my head and look into
his eyes, I hear myself speaking only the truth. “For me, school
has been nothing but an experiment in torture for the past five
years. I don’t learn anything there, and if it was possible to
actually die of boredom, they’d have to bury me every day.” My eyes
shift down, unable to meet his gaze. “I don’t really have any
friends. A few acquaintances, but no one I’m really close to.
Everyone thinks I’m weird and stuck-up and anti-social. The
teachers all hate me. They think I’m throwing away my future just
because I don’t want to go to Harvard or Yale. I despise everything
about it, and if it wasn’t for Tatiana I would’ve happily dropped
out long ago.”

“
And done what?” he asks
gently, unfazed by my admission.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I mean, what would you do
with yourself? Get a job at the mall? Watch soap operas all day?
Get married and have babies? Join the Peace Corps…or maybe the
circus?”

Despite my anxiety, I chuckle. “I
don’t know…I haven’t really thought about it…it’s not even an
option, so why bother?”

He grins and runs his hand absently
through his dark hair. “Well, what about for fun? What do you like
to do when you’re not suffering the excruciating agony of the world
of academia?”

“
I hang out by myself in
the woods a lot…”
Ugh
, even I know how weird that sounds. “I spend time with
Tatiana,” I add hurriedly. “I like reading, especially poetry. I
like learning things on my own…especially anything to do with
sciences. I’m teaching myself to speak French and Italian. Also how
to play the guitar… I like to watch old movies, especially the ones
filmed in black and white…” God, I sound even lamer breaking it
down like that
.
I
wish I could’ve listed Lucky’s resume;
She
wouldn’t come across as prime
candidate for Freaky Nerd-Geek of the Year.