Demons (Eirik Book 1) (25 page)

“Can I have some?” I asked, invading her personal space and giving her my guaranteed-to-make-a-girl-cave smile.

She threw me a disgusted look. “Does that work on girls?”

“Most of the time.”

“Then you just ran out of luck. I’m not like most girls.” She took her time bringing the piece of bacon to her lips. From her smile, she was deliberately baiting me. I caught her wrist, brought it to my mouth, and bit off part of the piece. She shoved the rest in her mouth and finger-splashed me with her juice. I engaged the right runes and the droplets disappeared.

“You can do that?” she asked.

“Yep. Want to know what else I can do?”

She studied me suspiciously. “Uh, will I like it?”

“Oh yes.” Something in my eyes must have told her I was teasing even though I wasn’t.

“No, don’t want to know.” She drank her juice. “It will just be another corny one-liner to get a rise out of me. Since you insist on staying, why don’t you tell me about Kayville High? From your T-shirt, you were a swimmer. Oh, I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed it.”

“You can borrow anything of mine anytime, Dimples.” The boxers rode up her thigh, the one closest to me, and without thinking, I reached out and ran a finger along the edge. Her eyes widened and she went still. I had a feeling she even stopped breathing and was waiting to see what I’d do next.

I couldn’t kiss her last night because she’d been asleep, but I wasn’t passing this moment. I didn’t care that it wouldn’t be fair to her. That she could be leaving today and my interest was in Kayville. Cora seemed so far and Celestia was here. I was living in the moment and claiming the girl. I leaned in.

She did too, then gasped and leaned back. She’d knocked over her juice and spilled it on the tray. She scooted out of the bed and put some distance between us. I followed, drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” I said.

She placed the tray on the cart, looked up, opened her mouth, and then closed it. For once, words failed her. I closed the gap between us, reached up, and touched her cheek.

She swallowed. “Eirik…”

“I know I should not be doing this, Dimples. Every cell in my body tells me it is not the time, but I can’t help it. There’s something about you that pulls me.” I stroked the corner of her mouth and her lips parted. Her gorgeous, full, sexy lips. I wanted just a taste. Her eyes said she wanted this, too. “I know you’re going home today and I don’t know when we’ll see each other again. And I, uh…” I had way too many things on my plate. Things my mother expected me to accomplish. The promises I’d made my father. “And I—”

“Have Cora,” Celestia finished.

I stared at her in shock. “What?”

She looked away, but not before I saw the pain in her eyes. “I know about Cora, Eirik. The girl you’re crazy about.”

Crazy about Cora? Had I said something in my sleep? Besides, Cora wasn’t here now. Celestia was. “Look, Dimples—”

“I have a boyfriend at home too, Eirik.”

Her words hit me hard. Of course, she’d have someone at home. She was gorgeous. “I see.”

“And I want to get back to him just as much as I’m sure you want to get back to…” Her voice shook to a stop and her chin went up, her head turned away. “Anyway, I just want to go home.” I didn’t have to look into her eyes to know she was fighting tears. Did she miss her boyfriend that much? “We need to figure out how we can talk to Trudy’s father about the
Jötun
in the cave,” she continued, her voice still shaky. “I was going to do it last night but couldn’t.”

“We don’t have to. I know a way to get you home,” I said, and for a bit, she went still. Then she turned and the look in her eyes almost brought me to my knees. There was so much pain. I reached for her.

“Don’t, Eirik,” she whispered. “If you touch me now, I’ll… Just don’t. Give me a second.” She ran into the bathroom and locked the door. I paced, then paused to stare at the bathroom door, indecision eating at me. We needed to talk.

I marched to the door and knocked. “Celestia.”

“Give me a moment,” was her mumbled response.

“Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to say.” She sounded like she was crying. The sound that followed confirmed it. She just blew her nose. “I want to go home.”

To her boyfriend. Did the bastard deserve her? “Do you love him?”

There was silence.

“Do you?” I asked, yet I knew I had no right to demand answers. I had Cora. I might have Cora. I still had to win her from Echo. Was it my destiny to always long for what I couldn’t have? Lose the women I wanted to other men? “Does he love you?”

Her shadow appeared under the door as though she’d moved closer. “Yes, Eirik. He adores me and I’m sure he’s hurting because I’m still here instead of home.”

Damn! I took a mental step and focused on our discussion. “Remember the portal entrance the Grimnirs use to bring souls in?”

“Your father said I couldn’t use it without causing some supernatural, catastrophic event,” she mumbled through the door.

“I know a way around it.”

The door opened and she stared at me with red-rimmed eyes. She’d been crying. Without weighing the consequences, I reached out and cupped her cheek. Maybe it was the suddenness of my reaction or maybe she needed the contact, but she didn’t pull away. Her eyes were puffy and red, the vulnerability in them heartbreaking, yet she’d never looked more beautiful.

“I hate to see you cry.” Her chin trembled again. “Don’t. You are going home. I’ll make sure of it.”

She blinked rapidly until she had her tears under control. “What’s the way around it?”

“You need to possess someone to use it. I’m offering my body.”

I got a frown instead of a smile. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? Don’t you want to go home?”

The frown became a scowl. “I do, but not that way. I don’t do possession. My grandmother told me to never, ever try it. It messes with a Witch’s powers and the possessed person gets affected, too.”

“I don’t care. I can engage my runes and get you across in a fraction of a second and minimize the effect. As soon as we cross over, we separate, and you enter the astral plane. I’ll hang around to make sure you’re okay.”

She shook her head. “This is against everything I was taught.”

“You have two choices, Dimples. You either do it my way or stay. I like the second one better,” I added, hoping to get a smile or an eye roll. Instead, her eyes clouded. “Think about it.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

“Okay. Finish your breakfast and rest or work on your sketches. I promised Rhys a sparring partner, so I’m changing and heading to the gym. I’m going to pick his brain, too. We’ll scout the cave this afternoon.”

~*~

CELESTIA

I stared after Eirik as he disappeared into the closet. I couldn’t have heard him right. “Sketches?”

“I noticed the pad when I carried you to bed last night,” he called back.

Oh no, this was getting worse by the minute. First, I fell asleep in his clothes, which I’d meant to hide underneath the robe. Then I almost let him kiss me when he had a girlfriend. I’d deliberately pretended Cora didn’t exist during those heart-pounding moments because I loved his touch. Loved the way it made me feel. Then, I broke down like a stupid, stupid girl because he didn’t deny having Cora and I fabricated a boyfriend to save face. Now, he’d seen the drawings of him I’d done. I was sure they screamed crush.

I rushed to the table. The book was closed. It must have fallen off my lap last night. “Did you look through it?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t dare,” Eirik said.

Oh yes, you would
. He had zero boundaries.

“I saw a few sketches,” he added. “You are gifted. When I meet your father or Hayden, I’d definitely recognize them.”

I knew it. “Did you see others?”

“I didn’t recognize the rest. I assume one is of your cousin and the other one—you have more drawings of him—is he your boyfriend or something?”

Oh, thank goodness he hadn’t recognized himself. Most of the pictures were just his face. A few included his chest. Wait a second. That was insulting. He hadn’t recognized himself? I was a damn good artist.

“Nah, some guy I thought was hot, but he turned out to be a total douche.”

He laughed and I knew he’d known all along the sketches were of him. He was such an asshat. I turned to go back to the bed and saw my backpack and coat.

“Did you bring my things from the dungeon?”

“Yep. In the middle of the night.” Eirik walked out of the closet, pulling down his tank top. I caught a glimpse of his flat abs before he covered them. The shirt clung to his torso and stretched across his chest. There was something different about him, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. “When I realized your things were missing and you’d used your tank top to cover my wound, I went looking for them. By the way, thanks for taking care of my head.”

“What happened and why couldn’t you self-heal? Were you in a food fight?”

He frowned. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you had food in your hair. I had to clean the goopy stuff before bandaging your head. What happened to our old room? It was like a tornado blew through it or something.”

“Something.”

The way he said it meant he knew. “Was it your mother? She was mad at us—Trudy and me—for hiding in the Sorting Hall while she talked to souls. It was really my fault. I was scared that Hayden’s soul might be in the room and Trudy told me about her hiding place. I should have said no, but she can be so infuriating and arrogant. Now, I’m confined to these quarters and I’m not supposed to hang out with her.”

Eirik’s expression had slowly changed from amusement to annoyance before I was halfway through my explanation. Now his amber eyes burned with anger. “Change. You are coming with me.”

“Eirik, don’t. We were wrong to sneak into the Sorting Hall.”

“And my mother was wrong to punish you.” He shoved his foot inside a sneaker and reached for the second one. “Did she talk to you personally?”

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

I sighed and shook my head. “She told Maera, and Maera told me last night when she brought my dinner. But it really doesn’t matter. We were in the wrong. Besides, I’m just a servant as far as she’s concerned.”

“Like hell you are. I’m not having you cooped in here because of one misunderstanding. She told Maera because Trudy is her responsibility. You are mine. If she has a problem with you, she talks to me.”

Taking the blame and making him see reason wasn’t working. I ran and caught up with him just before he stormed out of the room. I changed the focus to him. “Listen, I don’t want her getting mad at you. She already trashed the dungeon—”

“She didn’t. I did, but that’s another story. She needs to understand you are out of her reach. She can play mind games with me, but not with you.”

I slid my hand through his and covered it with my other hand. “I’m leaving, Eirik. So a day indoors until I do is not a big deal. You can pose for me and I’ll sketch you.”

“Not today, Dimples. This is her way of showing me she’s in control of my life.”

Before I could protest again, he engaged his speed runes and was gone. Air rushed to replace him and the door swung closed behind him.

“I swear, I’ve never met such a pig-headed guy in my entire life.” I went in the bathroom and got my things, which had dried. I pulled on my leggings, but kept his T-shirt. My poor undershirt was on the floor along with the facecloths I’d used. Not sure what to do with them, I picked them up and dumped them in the sink.

“Celestia!”

I hurried out of the bathroom.

“Oh, I thought you’d left.” He closed the gap between us and grabbed my hand. “You stay with me. You can use the gym, too.”

I was sports-challenged. My fear of water meant no swimming. Trancing when least expected meant no machines. Running—I just hated it. There should be a law against boobs and running.

“I’m allergic to sweat,” I said.

“Cute, but you’re not getting out of this. If you don’t want to work out, watch Rhys beat the crap out of me. He’s pretty good.”

Now that would be something.

CHAPTER 16. THE WOMAN IS CRAZY

CELESTIA

“The two guards are following us,” I whispered.

Eirik didn’t glance behind us. “I know. Mother and I compromised. I just need her to completely forget the leash she keeps trying to wrap around my neck.”

“And you?”

“Trying to see her point of view, which is really warped. She wants me to be prepared for the future, but she wants to dictate how I go about it. In a way, she reminds me of Svana, Raine’s mother.” He frowned. “Actually, Svana is a lot less anal.”

“Maybe she’s just learning to be a mother,” I said.

He shot me a weird glance. “What’s there to learn?”

“Plenty. I had a mother who sucked, but after she left and my grandmother took over, I noticed the difference in their parenting right away. Grams was strict, yet loving. She had expectations and laid them out, but she didn’t act like I was a complete failure when I fell short.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Why should they do that?”

“Because they see the potential in us. At least that’s what Grams used to say. Without her, I would not be the amazing Witch I am today.” I lifted my chin and gave him a toothy grin.

He did something so unexpected I stiffened. He put his arm around my shoulder and tucked me to his side. My heart did a stupid rickety dance and my stomach hollowed out. If he noticed that I’d stiffened, he didn’t show it.

“Your grams sounds scary,” he said.

“Your mama
is
scary.”

He stopped and frowned. “She is, but at the same time, she just does things her way and they work.” We continued our walk, comparing notes on our parents.

“Grams was a taskmaster, yet my cheerleader. We stressed over my failures and celebrated my successes. For every case I helped solve, I got a trip to my favorite ice cream shop.”

“Cases?”

I explained about working with my father. “He is pretty awesome. He has zero magic, but he respects it. He often says he’s seen what people can do with it and he’d be a fool not to respect it, so he watches from the sidelines in case magic fails. He’s a bit overprotective, but I have a way of working around that.”

“So you’re Daddy’s little girl?”

“Guilty. And your parents? I mean, the guardians who raised you in, uh, Kayville?”

“They had their lives and having me around kind of cramped their style. They traveled a lot and left me at home with nannies. They didn’t stick to one in case I got too attached to her. There was this particular one I really liked. She made the best chocolate chip cookies and lasagna, two of my favorite foods. They banned her from baking cookies.”

I reached up and gripped the wrist of the arm he’d placed around my shoulder. My mother might have hated me, but I had Dad and Grams.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. No child should grow up without…” The rumbling from his chest had me looking at his face. He was trying hard not to laugh.

I yanked my hand from his and pushed him. “Jerk! I can’t believe I actually felt sorry for you.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him so we were chest to chest with his arms locked behind me. More like chest to rock-hard abs since I only reached his chin. My sketchbook and pencils almost slipped from my hands since he’d trapped my arms.

I had two choices, either stare at his chest while lecturing my body to stop betraying me or lift my chin up and pretend I wasn’t liking our close proximity. Self-preservation won. I looked up and went on the offensive.

“How much of that garbage you just spouted was true?” I asked.

His expression grew serious. “All of it. Marisol made the best chocolate chip cookies and was fired when she defied them after they ordered her to stop making them. So instead of adoring her or the other nannies, I got Raine’s family.” A nostalgic smile touched his lips and I knew he wasn’t bullshitting me this time. “She became like my little sister. We did everything together. Played. Napped. Fought over buckets and sand castles, what to watch on the TV or what video games to play. I spent more time at her house than mine and her parents became my honorary aunt and uncle. When Uncle Tristan barbequed, I was by his side in my assistant chef apron, rotating the hot dogs. We baked chocolate chip cookies every week. When he taught Raine to change tires, I was there. When they ran…” He frowned. “No, running was their thing. I cheered with Aunt Svana and celebrated their victory afterward with a trip to an ice cream store. See? You and I have something in common.”

We had a lot in common. I wanted to correct him. We were both magical, had shitty mothers, although his had some redeeming qualities, and we both were raised on Earth.

“It was a good life,” he continued. “Is there something I could have changed? Yes. Did it shape the person I am today? Definitely yes.”

I just had to know one thing. “So you and Raine ever…?”

“What?” His smile grew naughty. “Kissed? Made out?”

My face grew hot. “Dated.”

“We did.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Kissed too, but it wasn’t meant to be. She had a crush on me, though, and when my parents found out, we moved.”

I rolled my eyes. “Parents don’t just up and move because a neighbor has a crush on their kid.”

“When said son is someone you are guarding and the girl is a Mortal, they do.”

I was a Mortal. I had no idea where that came from. He had Cora, who was Immortal. I realized I’d been standing in his arms like I had a right to. I wiggled, silently asking him to let me go, and his arms dropped. But before I could move away, he dropped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side again as we continued to walk toward the gym.

“Did you have a crush on Raine?”

“No. Raine is gorgeous and funny and stubborn to a fault, but I don’t think I’d call what I felt for her… what I feel for her a crush.” He became quiet, his eyes partially closed, and his expression set. I had a feeling he was processing a whole range of emotions. His voice sounded different when he added, “Raine is the kind of girl you move Heaven and Earth to protect because she’s loyal and loving and takes no crap from anyone when it comes to defending those she loves. She inspires people to be better and do better.”

Okay. He definitely loved her.

“If Torin ever hurts her, I’ll personally escort him to Corpse Strand and chain him to a wall for eternity.”

The emotions in his voice filled me with envy and awe. To have someone love me like that would be awesome. Did I have it in me to love someone that completely? I imagined someone hurting Dad and what I’d do to them. Probably mess them up real good. I had a potential of hurting many people. Mom had seen it. Yes, I loved my dad enough to make people’s lives a living hell if they ever went after him.

Not liking the direction of my thoughts, I focused on Eirik and the man he would torture for Raine. “Who is Torin?”

“Her Valkyrie boyfriend.”

So Raine was taken. Yippee. “Is he nice?”

“No. He’s an ass.”

We’d reached the hallway leading to the gym and a lot of gorgeous men and women were traipsing in and out of the rooms in gym shorts and tank tops, but after giving them a brief glance, my focus returned to Eirik. I wanted to hear more about his friends and growing up in Kayville, but he was already waving to Rhys. From the looks of things, the Grimnir had started without him and was hitting a speed-boxing bag. He saw us and stopped without grabbing it. The bag bounced back and hit him on the side of the head. He didn’t even flinch. The runes on his skin might have had something to do with that.

Had he recognized me? He cut across the gym floor.

“So where do I sit and watch?” The gym was huge, but there were no sitting areas that I could see.

“There are booths on the second floor.” He pointed at the glass wall above the gym. It was in total darkness. “The stairs are over there.” He pointed to the right. “Just a sec and I’ll show you.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll find them.” I walked away before Rhys could reach us. I’d wanted to talk to him about Hayden, but now that I knew she was safe, I hoped he didn’t recognize me.

“Hey,” someone said, and I automatically glanced over my shoulder. It was Rhys. “I know her.”

“No, you don’t,” Eirik said, gripping his arm.

Rhys frowned, his eyes volleying between Eirik and me. “The girl you asked me about, Hayden…”

“Not here,” Eirik said. “We’ll talk later.”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest. Hopefully, Eirik would take care of the situation. He seemed to have a knack for fixing problems. I gripped my sketchbook against my chest and kept going, the guards staying with me. How the hell were we going to lose them this afternoon? Eirik had better come up with a plan.

I found the stairs. Crystal lights turned on and lit up the way to the second floor, where arched doorways led to hallways and balconies to the left and right side of the staircase. Cushioned seats like those in private booths at stadiums back at home were arranged in descending rows on the sides of the hallway. The right side faced several basketball courts, where some Grimnirs were playing a game that made NBA games look like child’s play. It was NBA mixed with WWE. They were too brutal with each other. Yes, zipping past each other, slamming, tackling, or even becoming invisible was cool, but when thuds reverberated around the gym and people just laughed, it stopped being fun. I enjoyed sports because of Dad, but this wasn’t sport.

I glanced over at the guards. They didn’t talk or make any noises.

“I’ll just grab a seat inside over here,” I said and smiled. No return smile. Yeah, whatever.
I’ll be leaving soon, sour faces.

I found the perfect spot to sit and sketch. The seats faced the boxing ring and training area, and to the far left was an unpadded hand-to-hand combat zone.

I waved to Eirik when he looked up and found me. He was frowning, which couldn’t be good. The two warmed up on the floor, kicking and pounding on a punching bag. A couple of women were in the ring, trying to outdo each other on who could body-slam the other the most. I cringed with every punch. This wasn’t my idea of entertainment.

I didn’t realize I had stopped watching all together and was sketching until I caught Eirik waving from the corner of my eye. He was trying to get my attention. He had been doing that since we arrived, looking up here, probably checking on me to make sure I was still there.

Where could I possibly go? The two guards seated behind me weren’t exactly discreet. They could have sat closer and watched the ongoing brutal sparring below, but no. They had to sit way behind me, their eyes drilling holes in the back of my head.

I waved back, but Eirik’s response was a scowl. Rhys was talking to the two women who’d been using the boxing ring, but Eirik didn’t seem to be in a hurry to join him. After what I’d seen, I didn’t think I wanted to watch him fight. I lifted the sketchbook and waved. He only scowled harder. Oh well. Whatever had crawled up his gym shorts was his problem. I went back to sketching.

“What did you do?”

I tensed and my pencil skidded along the pad. I scrambled to my feet to face the goddess. I hadn’t heard her enter the viewing area or walk to my side.

“Sorry. I don’t understand.”

She glanced at the people below. “Yesterday, I sat here and watched my son practice with Rhys. He’s not exactly where he’s supposed to be, but I know he’ll only get better. Today, I get a message that he was back in the ring and he’s not playing nice. Jeff is one of the best instructors.”

My eyes flew to the ring. Eirik was still inside it, but he was no longer sparring with Rhys. He was facing a different man. This one was bigger and buff, and the other Grimnirs had stopped their workouts and were cheering them on.

“That man is huge,” I said.

The goddess’ chuckle was mocking. “Size is not everything—as my son has proven. I hate to admit it, but he learned a thing or two in Asgard. That’s the third person he’s fought in the last hour,” the goddess continued. “One has a broken neck.”

I cringed. “Rhys?”

“No. He’s a trainer and knows when to stop a fight. So I’ll ask again. What did you do or say to my son?”

“Nothing. I’ve just been sitting here sketching. I hate watching them pound each other like animals. That’s not entertainment.”

“No, it’s not.” The goddess studied me, her eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately, my son is trying to impress you.”

I scoffed at the idea. “Eirik doesn’t care what I think.”

“You cannot be that naïve, Celestia. Look at him.”

She knew my name?

“Look,” she snapped.

I glanced down to see Eirik bring the Grimnir to his knees with a blow. He followed by landing on the man’s back and twisting his arm, effectively stopping him from getting up. Then he glanced up at us and smirked.

“Idiot,” I mumbled under my breath, but she heard me.

“Idiot is not a word I’d use to describe my son. Stubborn. Smart. Opinionated. On the other hand, his fascination with you is cause for concern. It’s a distraction he doesn’t need.”

I fought the pull of her runes and studied the goddess objectively. Behind her twisted way of doing things and obvious dislike of my relationship with Eirik was a mother worried about her son.