Runaway Mortal (14 page)

“He’s a demon,” I said, finally looking back at him, “from a wealthy and influential family.”

As my words sunk in, Loire’s face darkened. “The first morning you got back,                              when that demon girl threw eggs at you, that guy with her was your ex, wasn’t he?” When I nodded, Loire continued. “So he thinks you’re good enough to sleep with, but not good enough to let anyone else know that he was with you?”

I was silent as I tried to push away the anger that surged through me whenever Talon came up. What he was putting me through was disgusting. He could make all my problems go away in a heartbeat if he really wanted to.

“I want to kill him,” Loire growled. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes that was frightening. I would hate to ever get on the wrong side of him. “The superiority complex that some of these angels and demons have is disgusting, but when it gets in the way of someone’s freedom then it’s pretty fucked up. He’s going to regret his decision. I’ll make sure of it.”

Despite how angry he was, a warm feeling was unfolding in the center of my stomach at his words. He cared enough to want to defend me. I could hardly believe it. But it wasn’t his fight; it was mine.

“No, you don’t need to worry about him. This is my problem, not yours. Maybe one day he’ll realize how selfish he’s being and come forward with the truth. Until then I just have to focus on-” I bit my tongue, realizing that I’d let my guard down and had almost mentioned the Mortal Blade to Loire. “Um, focus on finding evidence to clear my name.”

Luckily, Loire didn’t seem to notice my slip up. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. “Tell me something off the record.” He tilted his head to the side, studying me. “When they said you were seen arguing with the headmistress hours before her death, what were you arguing about?”

For some reason, I wanted to confide in Loire about this. It was nice having someone to talk to who actually believed in my innocence.

“Headmistress Melkane saw Talon and I together one afternoon sneaking out of the garden.” I sucked in a breath. “Talon’s father is a representative in Parlum and she didn’t think it was appropriate for him to be engaging in a relationship with a mortal. You know, it could reflect badly on his dad. She called me into her office that night and berated me over it and I told her where she could shove it. She was killed a few hours later.”

“It’s so simple, yet so complicated. You can’t tell anyone the real reason because your douchebag ex won’t back up your story.” Loire let out a breath, shaking his head in disbelief. “So, then how did you end up finding the headmistress’ body? You were the first to find her, that’s why you became a primary suspect, right?”

“Yeah, it was the strangest thing,” I said with a nod, chewing on my bottom lip as the image of Melkane splayed across the ground came back to me. “I’d left my wakizashi in the garden after Talon and I had, you know.” I felt myself blush under Loire’s watchful eyes. “I went back to get it and I found her like that.”

“Wow,” Loire exhaled. “So it was just a matter of bad timing. That is completely screwed up. They’re happy to blame a mortal for this because they think we’re beneath them.”

He actually believed me; he understood me. I’d finally found someone I could relate to.

“I know.” It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders after telling Loire about that night. “But I’ve come to realize that our world is messed up like that. We have laws that make no sense and that only seem to benefit angels and demons. No one cares what happens to us.”

I didn’t want to be a part of a world like that, but I had no choice. This was what I’d been born into.

“One day there will be an uprising. Mortals will gain status. Angels and demons will be together.” Loire stared straight ahead as he spoke, like he was seeing something that was yet to happen. “Things will change and our world will be different.”

We both sat in silence after that, lost in our thoughts, and I hoped that his words would somehow become a reality one day.

Chapter Fourteen

Everyone knew that saying: speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Well, in this case, we’d spoken of the demon, and the freaking demon ex had appeared. Just my luck.

Loire and I were heading back to my room, and I’d just finished sending Misha and Anna text messages asking them to meet us there, when Talon and Cedee came around the corner.

I was seriously considering turning around and hiding, but Loire placed his hand on my shoulder as though he’d sensed my thoughts. That familiar gesture was enough to keep me on our current path—and also send tingles running down my back from his touch.

I was ready to face that Cedee bitch. Bring it on.

Cedee had gone overboard with the fake tan—probably in preparation for prom—and was wearing a ridiculous looking fur coat that had splashes of red on it. As they stopped in front of us, her eyes shot to Loire, and she gave him a sickly sweet smile that made me want to throw up.

“Kat, you look so good today,” she said, in a voice as sweet as honey as she glanced at me.

Obviously, I looked like shit. There were bruises on my face, I was all gross and sweaty from training, and wearing this God-awful brown shirt. This wasn’t exactly me in top form.

“So do you,” I said silkily. “I really like what you’ve done with that dead squirrel. It brings out your cheekbones.” Her coat really did look like road kill.

Talon bit his lip as he fought the smile that was threatening to break out on his face. At least he still had a sense of humor.

“Don’t ever act like you’re better than me.” Cedee’s fake smile was replaced with a scowl. She really sucked at playing nice; it had lasted a grand total of five seconds. “The only reason they let you back in here is probably because your best friend’s uncle pushed for it. You’re nothing special, honey.”

“Well,” I said, keeping my tone light, “apparently I’m special enough to be accused of killing a powerful angel. Maybe you should watch out. You might be next.”

Cedee’s pale, green eyes went round, and she seemed flustered as she spoke. “You don’t scare me. You should worry more about yourself.” It was hard to feel threatened by her when she was such a ridiculous shade of orange.

“Okay, Oompa Loompa, whatever you say.” I studied her 5’1” frame in disdain and raised an eyebrow. “All you need is a green hairpiece and a pair of overalls and you’re like a Halloween costume gone wrong.”

Clearly, that struck a nerve with her, and she lunged forward like she was about to bitch slap me. But I knew it was coming. I knew what I was getting into when I’d provoked her. I was ready for a fight.

But the assault never came.

Surprised, I looked past Cedee and saw that Talon had grabbed her arms from behind and was restraining her.

“Let go of me, Talon!” she cried, struggling to remove herself from his grasp.

“No,” he said firmly, spinning her around in his arms. “I care about you, Cee, I really do. But you need to stop this. Leave Kat alone.”

She stopped thrashing, realization dawning on her face. “You still have feelings for her!” She wrenched herself away from him and looked between the both of us. “I can’t believe this! It’s been months and you still aren’t over her! Why can’t you forget her?”

My mouth fell open. So Cedee did know about us.

Then Cedee did something unthinkable. She started crying.

Talon cupped her face in his hands, but she pulled away again. “Don’t you dare touch me! You’re going to regret choosing her over me.” She glared at him one last time and pushed past me, storming down the hallway and out of sight.

There was an awkward silence as I tried to process what had just happened. Had Cedee and Talon just broken up? Had he actually stood up for me?

Talon was studying me, a mixture of confusion and relief visible on his face. I knew he was waiting for me to say something, to make the first move, but his mistake wasn’t forgotten. I was still harboring feelings of resentment towards him that I couldn’t shake.

There was nothing I had to say to him, so I turned to go, but I felt Talon’s hand clasp my forearm, his skin smooth against mine as he pulled me back towards him.

“Hands off,” Loire warned, shoving Talon away from me.

“Kat, can we just have a minute alone? Please?” Talon’s eyes were pleading as he steadied himself.

Loire snorted, pushing his hair out of his eyes like he was gearing up for a fight. “Yeah, right. Like I’d leave her alone with you. You’re lucky I don’t drag your ass outside and kick the shit out of you.”

Goddamn, there was something so incredibly hot about the way Loire had just said that, but now was not the time to swoon over him. I had a douchebag ex to deal with.

Talon was red in the face as Loire stared him down, but he regained his composure quickly. “Kat, please?” he implored.

Knowing that I would probably regret this later, I looked over at Loire apologetically. I felt bad considering he’d just defended me. “Could you give us five minutes?”

Loire stared at me in disbelief, but then his expression turned stony. “Yeah, whatever.” He walked off in the direction that Cedee had gone, and disappeared around the corner.

As I watched him go, I felt even worse. We’d really connected in the last couple of days and I really felt like I’d just messed it all up.

Turning back to Talon, I crossed my arms and waited for him to speak.

He seemed agitated as he ran a hand through his dark blonde hair. Something stirred uneasily in the pit of my stomach, but I pushed it away. No, I wasn’t going to do this. I was not going to give in so easily.

“I just want you to know that I regret what I did and I’m trying to make up for it. I want to be forgiven.” He reached over and uncrossed my arms before placing a hand over where my heart was. “Don’t you want to let go of all that pain? I know you feel it too, and I know it’s killing you, just like it’s killing me.”

I closed my eyes for a second, letting him pull me close, as his hand trailed up my neck and around my body. It was so easy to forget what had happened between us. It was so easy to pretend that the invisible wall between us had never gone up, severing whatever bond had tied us together.

Talon lifted my head up so that I was forced to look into those deep, blue eyes. His features were soft, kind as always, the cleft on his chin waiting to be kissed like I always did.

He was right. I did hurt. I did want the pain to go away. I wanted so much to forget what had happened between us. I wanted to go back to the way things had been those many months ago, but how was I going to get over it? My heart was so closed to him.

He wove his hands into my hair, pulling my head closer and making my head spin. His earthy, woody scent of pine was overwhelming as he lowered his lips to mine. My old feelings for him were still there, but I didn’t want him. I had to stop this. I couldn’t let him get close enough to hurt me again.

“No.” I pushed him away with force, words failing me. All I could do was stare at him. I couldn’t even bring myself to leave. What was wrong with me? “Your girlfriend just ran away crying and you’re hitting on me. Nice.”

“Kat, don’t be mad,” Talon said, catching my arm.

My eyes fluttered upwards again; scaling over his firm jaw and handsome face.

“How can I not be mad?” I loosened his grip on my arm. “I’m mad that you did what you did, and I’m mad because I can’t forget about it. Standing up for me in one instance doesn’t make up for the way you gave up on me. Where were you when I cried myself to sleep, wondering how I was going to prove my innocence? You weren’t there for me then, and I don’t want you here for me now.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “No, I don’t want to hear anymore. I just want you to leave me alone. I don’t have time for you. Stop trying to fix things between us. We are unfixable.”

Talon’s face crumbled, and I couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. I chose that moment to make my exit and create a distance between us that he couldn’t bridge.

I did not look back.

***

Loire was silent as he walked me back to my room. I wasn’t exactly Miss Chatty right now either. The encounter with Talon had left me drained.

“I’ll be out here if you need me,” he said, as we stood awkwardly outside my door. “I’m sure you and your friends have exciting girl things to talk about, like what shade of nail polish you’ll be wearing tomorrow.” I could tell he was trying to get me to crack a smile, but it wasn’t working.

“Ha, yeah.” I didn’t even have a witty comeback.

I pushed open my door and found Anna and Misha inside. They were both sitting on the same bed and sharing a pack of chocolate chip cookies—which was a freaking relief because it meant they were talking again.

“Kat!” They both stood up in unison and ran over to me, pulling me into a group hug.

“Are you okay?” Misha demanded, releasing me. “Loire came in here this morning and asked me to pack a bag for you. He told me you were attacked!”

Oh, so Misha was the one to thank for my hideous t-shirt.

“You don’t look good,” Anna said in her quiet way, watching me with those blue eyes that seemed to see into my soul.

I shrugged, taking a step back and sitting down on the edge of my bed. There was so much on my mind and it was hard to keep it together sometimes. Everything was wearing me down slowly. I wasn’t winning, I was slowly losing.

“Kat, talk to us,” Misha said.

The bed dipped down on either side of me, and Anna wrapped her arm around my shoulder in comfort.

“Loire and I were training last night in the field outside the gym.” Misha’s eyebrows shot up at this discovery. “He got mad at me and walked off, so I started heading back to school. I heard a noise, so I stopped. That’s when I was attacked. By rocks.”

No one said anything. Once again, I let the absurdity of my statement sink. Yeah, I got it. I sounded freaking insane.

“Rocks?” Misha finally asked. “Seriously?”

“I know I sound like a pot head, but that’s really what happened.”

Anna remained silent, probably because in her head she was trying to figure out the great rock mystery. I could tell she was getting nowhere from the frown on her mouth.

“Yeah, I got nothing,” Misha said with a shake of her head. “Now we have something else we need to solve. I feel like Veronica Mars.”

“Be careful, Kat,” Anna finally said. “Someone is out to get you. You’re lucky you have the SRECON agents guarding you.”

At the mention of the SRECON agents, my thoughts immediately went to Loire and the way he’d taken care of me. A hot flush crept up my neck. We’d shared something intimate last night; something that I was stupidly hoping would happen again.

“At least you’re fine now.” Anna was studying me in concern. “You seem a little red, though. Make sure you rest up.”

My mind went back to my most recent problem. I might as well get all this crap off my chest if I wanted to relax.

“I ran into Talon and Cedee.” I chewed on my lip, still feeling weird about the whole thing. “He tried to kiss me.”

“What?” Misha gasped loudly. “In front of her?” She actually seemed thrilled by the thought of this.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “She had some weird emotional breakdown and left. She’s known about me and Talon this whole time.”

“He told her?” Anna’s tone was full of surprise.

“Yeah, I guess.” I hadn’t bothered asking him why he’d told her but still refused to confessed to Delware or Parlum.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Running into Talon and Cedee had lowered my spirits considerably. Well, Cedee not so much, but Talon had really gotten to me. I needed to stay away from him. He had this way of making me feel vulnerable, and I refused to be that person anymore.

“How do you feel about him?” Anna asked. There wasn’t an inch of judgment on her face. That’s what I loved about her.

It made me squirm as I recalled the intimate moment between Talon and I; the way his hands had weaved in and out of my hair, the way his eyes had seemed to pierce me to my core, and the way his lips had been inches away from touching mine. It was weird to think about, let alone discuss my feelings.

“I didn’t kiss him.” I said this like it was supposed to answer everything.

“Did you want to?” Misha prompted, reaching for the cookies and offering me one.

I took one and bit into it, letting the sweetness overtake the bitterness in my mouth. “Yes, a little at first, but then I realized I didn’t want to. I need to get over him.” I sighed, burying my head in my hands and savoring the darkness. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I hate him, but sometimes I don’t hate him nearly as much as I pretend to.”

My voice came out muffled, and when neither Anna nor Misha said anything, I thought they hadn’t heard me.

I turned in Misha’s direction and saw her studying me hard. There was an expression on her face that I couldn’t pinpoint.

Her mouth twitched. “Are you saying that you still have feelings for him?”

After everything he’d done to me, my feelings definitely weren’t the same towards him, but there was still something between us. It was all so confusing. Plus, I was starting to think more and more about Loire now.