Runaway Devil
37

My breath caught in my throat, the taste of the ravager's blood lingering on my tongue. My heart hammered against my chest and my head pounded. The popcorn ceiling of the motel stared back at me as I controlled my breathing.

I blinked slowly and slouched into a sitting position. Balan was still asleep on his perch, his head tucked into his chest. I rubbed my hand down my clammy face and let my head hang, my elbows braced on my knees. My heart was still hammering, I couldn't keep still. I stood and pulled the curtain back from the dingy window. The moon looked bloated and heavy in the sky, it lit up the entire parking lot.

"Dreams again?" Alec murmured from across the room. He was laying on his back with one of his arms behind his head, the other draped across his stomach. It rose and fell gently with his calm breath. I made no response. "You have those a lot," He said.

"People dream all the time." My voice sounded far away from me like it wasn't mine. I sounded distracted.

"Not like yours." I knew what he meant. "Do you remember why I never became a soldier?"

"Your philosophy," I said, staring out the window at nothing in particular.

"It's your philosophy too."

"We have our similarities, angel, but we are not the same. I refused to fight a war I did not believe in. It wasn't my fight and I was tired of watching my allies die for it. But, I was born and bred to be a soldier. And I was good at it," I chuckled at the irony. "Too good at it, in fact." Alec stayed silent, waiting for me to continue. I let the silence sit for a moment. "They fucked me up, made me thank them for it, and then put a hit out on me. I abandoned my family, everything I had." I sounded so sad, and I didn't like it. "When you weaponize a living creature, you can't take that back. They will always be what they were made to be. I will always be the best at killing." And I will always enjoy it.

"That's where I come in." His voice had lost the thick blanket of sleep. "I have a bit more subtlety, I know how to talk my way into and out of things." Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Like when we first met?" I raised my brow and smiled. We had nearly torn each other apart.

"Hey, you started it." That was exactly what he had said. "What time is it?"

I glanced at the shoddy digital clock on the desk. "Three forty-five."

He sighed deeply. "Well I'm not getting back to sleep, and you aren't either. So, let's get going," He stood and stretched his arms above his head. I looked at him and realized, once again, how big he actually was. I didn't think about his size compared to mine, but my human form was shorter than I realized. "If we hurry we can take out the first target before dawn, then touch base in Buffalo."

I yanked my boots on and laced them. My hair tie should have been on the floor next to the bed, but I couldn't see where it landed. "Bedside table," Alec said as his back was turned, walking into the bathroom. I looked and lo and behold, it was exactly where he said it was. He must have put it there so I could find it the next morning. I looked at it and pictured him shaking his head at my sleeping form, picking up my hair tie, and placing it next to me. I shook the image from my mind and pulled my hair into a tight bun.

If we were heading to our first target, I couldn't have my hair loose. The image of Alec with his fist tightly wrapped around my hair in the alley came to mind. My scalp stung slightly as if it remembered too. Before I could stop it, my mind took the memory and ran with it. My ears were filled with harsh breathing, Alec coated in a sheen of sweat, the veins in his hands and forearms bulging. I felt my eyelids become heavy as my face heated. I could feel my hair wrapped in his fist again but in a completely different context. The idea of deep, heated grunts and gasps and sighs sent a tightly coiled bolt through my lower stomach.

"Kara?" His voice ripped me from my mind and I turned as if caught doing something I wasn't supposed to. As soon as he saw my face his focus changed. At first, he had looked at me with a casual question, but then his eyes asked a different, far more problematic question. One that I couldn't answer. "What was that?"

"What was what?" I answered too quickly. Knowing that I had been caught, even if he didn't know exactly what I was thinking, had me scrambling. His eyes took in my whole face, trailing over every feature, and leaving a path of heat in their wake. I needed to get used to the fact that we were connected now. I knew that I could read him, and I hadn't taught him how to read me, but that didn't mean he wouldn't pick up on things. If you shout loud enough, they'll hear it.

"Before we go, I need to know how to talk to you." I nodded and told him to sit on the side of his bed. I sat across from him, our knees almost touching.

"Close your eyes and focus on my voice." He did what he was told. "Imagine a cord or a thread connecting you to me. It could look like anything you want, as long as I'm on the other end." I kept my voice calm and even, watching him focus. "Hold onto that image, strengthen it, memorize it." He nodded, his brows furrowing gently. "Now, think something small," I heard the whisper of a word. It sounded far away, like someone talking against the wind. "Push a little bit, just a little bit louder."

"...rau..." I listened harder.

"Again, louder."

"Karau." I knew what it was like to hear someone else's voice in your head. I had communicated with Jareth almost entirely that way. But Alec's voice made me pause.

"Again," I said, I could only conjure a whisper.

"Karau," He said again. I closed my eyes and met his connection, it was glowing. I touched it and felt warmth. I had forgotten what the intimacy of a mental connection felt like. I hadn't realized how starved I was for it.

"Once more."

"Karau." His tone had changed, it was gentle instead of technical. His voice was deep and gruff, but it felt like it was holding me. The subtlety of those sensations was tricky to master, but he got it right off the bat. I kept my mind melded with him for just a moment longer. I was sharing in his warmth and he was letting me. I felt it move over my body, like a heated blanket on an early winter morning. I didn't want to leave. I felt my spirit swim with his, rubbing against each other and enjoying every bit of it.

I pulled away and the warmth faded. The cold chased it out, my blanket ripped away. "Yeah, like that." I evened my voice and nodded, closing my mouth tightly. I opened my eyes and found him already looking at me.

"Like that?" He smiled at me with an amused tinge in his eyes. He was poking fun at me. But I found that I didn't mind so much.

"Yep," my voice tightened and I stood stiffly. "We should go." I pulled my jacket on and folded it tightly around me, trying to feel less exposed.

The early morning air was colder than I would've liked, but we pushed farther. Alec said that our first target was a loner, which could be far more dangerous than a pack. When someone chose to go at it alone, they knew they didn't need the power of numbers.

I stayed out of his head and would remain out of it until I could teach him how to put up a wall. But the ambient radio noise coming from him suddenly quieted. His face was hard against the wind, his eyes closed, and his lips set in a tight line. We must have been close, he was trying to pinpoint a specific spot.

Balan flew above me, prepared for any attacks from above. The coolness of his shadow on my back was comforting. He was just as sweet when he was a vulture but, I had to admit, I missed his pit bull-like appearance. It was easier to be comforted by a dog than a vulture. Easier to play with too.

"Hold," Alec pulled himself up and hovered, scrutinizing the patchy woods beneath us. "We have the advantage of surprise and experience. Most of these guys have never been in this realm before." Alec's voice came through loud and clear. He was a quick learner. They would have no idea how to adapt to the changes in the air or their human skin suits. I thought back to the numerous times I overreached and paid the price for it.

"You would think that they were capable enough to find actual lodging instead of just hiding in the woods," But this one wanted to full nature experience.

"I can't pin him down," Alec said.

"But he's down there? And alone?" He nodded, not looking at me. "In that case—" I didn't finish the thought. I took in a deep breath. I would be able to differentiate the angel's scents. I knew Alec's, so any other angel would stick out like a sore thumb. "Go time, Balan." He whistled, his little bird heart thumping with excitement at the thought of angel blood. I leaned forward, gliding silently downward.

I picked up on deer, raccoons, and wild dogs. Something sickly sweet stood out, the angel was close. "Follow me." Alec pulled up behind me and kept a sharp eye out. It got stronger and stronger until it gave me a headache. I pulled off to the side and silently landed on the top of a maple tree. Alec found a tree beside mine and looked to me for the location. I held my finger up to my lips and listened.

I filtered out the wildlife and looked for the angel stumbling through the undergrowth. He was quiet, but not silent. "I'll approach and you hang back, but stay close enough to step in if I need you," Alec said. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah okay, remember we aren't here to make friends." It was his turn to roll his eyes. He tucked his wings in tight and started his slow and controlled descent. I waited for a moment and followed, already tasting the angel's blood on my tongue. I couldn't keep the grin from my face.

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