Chapter 13
Thirteen
BECKS
I step into the room and Haven pulls a face.
“What?” I ask.
“Seriously? Do you have something against shirts?”
Color appears high on her cheeks when she gives my chest a pointed look, and I have to cover my smile by biting the inside of my cheek. I suppose I have been shirtless a few times already. Maybe I’m doing it subconsciously.
“I was working out,” I say with a shrug, feeling like that’s explanation enough.
I was honestly shocked to discover the small hotel had a tiny gym—the place doesn’t look like it’s been updated since the seventies—but it provided the outlet I needed.
Being cooped up in the car all day left me itching to expel some energy.
It also gave Haven a little break, time to process without me breathing down her neck.
But even so, my need to protect her feels like it’s growing by the minute, so I could only stand to be away for a half-hour.
“And you always work out half naked?”
The smile is getting harder to keep off my face. She’s clearly flustered. I shouldn’t be finding as much amusement in her discomfort as I am, but shoot, it’s kind of adorable.
Another shrug. “I was sweating.”
Her voice is one notch below shrill when she says, “And taking off your shirt stopped your pores from leaking?”
I can’t help myself. I bark out a laugh. “Stopped my pores from leaking? Are you serious?”
Her face reddens even more.
“Whatever,” she grumbles. “It’s a free country. If you want to walk around flaunting all of that for all to see . . .” She gestures toward my abs. “. . . be my guest.”
Haven’s been through a lot over the last couple days. I should probably apologize and throw on a shirt, but I’m having too much fun with this. Instead, I say, “Thanks, glad I have your permission,” and then plop down on the edge of my bed.
I was going to shower off, but it can wait. Clearly, my bare chest affects her, and I want to see to what extent.
She gapes, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times as she grasps for words. I stare back at her blankly, trying to convey complete innocence, but a smile tugs the corners of my mouth.
Seeing the twitch, Haven’s eyes narrow, and a touch of calculation enters her gaze.
I’m expecting her to let loose on me, anticipating it in fact, because verbally sparring with her is turning out to be rather entertaining, but instead she turns on a heel and walks away.
A trickle of disappointment runs through me as she digs through her duffel and pulls something out without a word before marching to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.
I suppose it’s good at least one of us is being mature.
Standing, I go over to my bag, rifling through it for clean clothes to change into after my shower.
As I gather my things, my mind drifts through a vague plan for the next day.
For now, we need to lay low. I have to keep Haven off the grid until we come up with a plan to defeat the demon, but the immediate goal is simply to make it to tomorrow.
The bathroom door creaks open just as I turn toward it, stack of fresh clothes in one hand.
“For dinner, I was thinking we—” The words dry up in my mouth when Haven steps out of the bathroom in a tiny blue bikini.
She has a bath towel slung over one creamy shoulder and her discarded clothes clutched in her hand. But I’m not looking at the clothes or the towel. I’m drinking in her form as she moves, practically mesmerized as her hips sway back and forth with each step.
I stumble over my words before clearing my throat and finding my voice. “What are you doing?”
She shrugs. “I thought it would be obvious. I’m going for a swim.”
She bends over her bag again to return her clothes, and I tear my gaze away.
“A swim?” I ask, feeling like my mental processing has ground to a halt.
“Yep,” she says.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her straighten and think it’s safe to look back. It isn’t. My body reacts immediately, and I can’t tear my gaze away.
I’ve seen Locklyn in a sports bra or swimsuit a million times over the years, so seeing Haven dressed like this shouldn’t be such a shock.
But Haven isn’t Locklyn.
She’s softer, curvier, than her twin.
My hand twitches with the desire to reach out and place it above the swell of her hip, right where it looks like it belongs, and tug her close.
Whoa.
I take a step back, not realizing until that moment that I’d moved across the room and now was in touching distance.
I don’t feel the same attraction to Locklyn that I once did. What used to be a sharp pain when I thought of Locklyn has now dulled to a weak ache. There’s no more yearning for her in my heart, especially when I see how happy she is with Talon.
Sure, I don’t love seeing them being overly affectionate with each other. Who would? But the ache that still remains is over the loss of our closeness as friends, and a touch over what might have been, not out of a secret desire that I’m still keeping alive.
Shame cuts through me when the realization hits. Maybe this isn’t real attraction at all, just a twisted echo of what I once felt for Locklyn, misplaced on her twin?
But a quiet voice in the back of my mind reminds me that, as deeply as I cared for Locklyn, I was never struck dumb, mesmerized like I am now.
I clear my throat again, crossing my arms over my chest. Haven’s gaze shifts to one of my biceps before immediately bouncing back to my face.
“You packed a bikini in your go-bag?” I ask.
Color rises to Haven’s cheeks even as she crosses her arms, mirroring my stance. “You never know when you might need one. What if we decide to hide out somewhere tropical?”
I lift a brow, keeping my gaze on Haven’s face and away from her chest that she just unknowingly drew attention to. “Is that so?”
A smirk appears on her face, pulling my gaze to her mouth. My eyes catch on her full upper lip, and the temperature in the room seems to suddenly jump.
“It always pays to be prepared.”
“And where do you plan to do this swimming?”
“The pool we passed after checking in.”
“The one with the candy wrapper floating in it?”
I don’t mention what else I spied floating in the pool, but I’m one hundred percent sure she’ll catch a disease if she so much as dips her toe in that water.
“It looks refreshing.”
It’s my turn to smirk. “Do you feel the need to cool off?”
Her eyes flare. She opens her mouth to say something, when there’s a knock on our door.
“One sec,” I say with a wink that causes her cheeks to redden further.
Messing with her is easily becoming my new favorite pastime. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone so easy to make blush. It paints a rosy hue high on her cheeks that I’m starting to find particularly appealing.
With a spring in my step, I go to the door, looking through the peephole. There’s a woman standing there with a tray in her hand.
Glancing over my shoulder, I ask Haven if she ordered food, and she shakes her head.
“Do they even have room service here?” she asks.
Suddenly, unease prickles my skin and I tense.
“You have the wrong room. We didn’t order anything,” I call through the door.
The woman looks up, and as if she can somehow see me through the slab of wood, her gaze locks on mine. A snarl twists her lips, and as I watch, her eyes go completely black.
Rearing back, I cast a quick glance to the window. We’re on the second floor. Otherwise, I’d grab Haven and leave that way.
Swearing under my breath, I rush to my bag, digging through it for a weapon.
I’ll use my magic if I have to, but this isn’t an empty forest. It’s a hotel with humans nearby. A weapon won’t draw as much unwanted attention as my magic.
“Becks,” Haven says. “What’s going on?”
“Get in the bathroom!”
The woman in the hallway bangs on the door hard enough to rattle the security chain.
“Just a sec,” I call. “I need to throw on some clothes.”
The demon-possessed woman is blocking our only exit. Without another escape option, I’m going to be forced to subdue her. The best I can do is buy myself a few moments to prepare.
“Becks,” Haven whisper-hisses, her feet still rooted in the same place, her skin leached of the color that so prettily tinted her cheeks just a few moments before.
“I’ve got this. It’s going to be okay.” Even as I say that, scales roll over my forearms before disappearing again. Haven catches the flash of teal, and her eyes go impossibly wide.
I toss her my phone. “I need you to get in the bathroom and lock yourself in. If anything happens to me, call the number programmed in there.”
The bang on the door jolts Haven, and I hear the unmistakable sound of wood cracking. The demon is no longer pretending. It wants in, and a couple more hits and it will be.
“Go!” I say to Haven, and with a quick nod she finally flees.
She’s not safe now, but having her out of the room gives me a small measure of peace. If that monster wants her, he’s going to have to go through me to get her.
I’m not going to let that happen.
I’ve only just laid my hand on the hilt of a dagger when another bang sounds and the door behind me bursts open.
I flip around, letting the dagger loose without warning. It sails end over end and embeds in the demon’s shoulder. But she doesn’t even flinch.
Like some sort of unfeeling cyborg, she reaches up and yanks the blade out. A spurt of blood shoots from the wound, pulsing once before slowing to a steady flow down her arm, telling me I must have at least nicked an artery or vein.
Guilt hits me hard, cold and immediate. The humans this demon keeps possessing are innocent. A wound like that could very well kill her within minutes if the blood isn’t stopped. But the demon doesn’t care about its vessel and allows the blood to run freely.
“Where’s the girl?” the possessed woman says, her voice low and distorted.
“I already told you, you have the wrong room,” I say, even as fire coats my fists.
The woman’s head jerks in the direction of the bathroom. A smile twists her features as her gaze locks on the door separating her from Haven.
Anger, and a wave of possessiveness shoots through me and I rush her, determined not to let her get a single step closer to Haven.
We collide and I take her to the floor. But almost as soon as her back hits the carpet, she throws me off with inhuman strength. I fly across the room, smashing into the dresser, breaking it into pieces. I’m stunned for a moment, but lumber to my feet in time to see her reach the bathroom door.
Panic shoots through me and I throw out my hands. A stream of fire erupts from my palms, hitting her in her good shoulder hard enough to make her stumble.
I’m there in only a few short steps. Grabbing her, I fling her across the room, away from Haven.
She hits the wall and crumples to the floor. Her ankle is bent at a ninety-degree angle and there’s a gash on her forehead that’s leaking blood down her face.
“Becks?” Haven calls, and the bathroom handle starts to turn.
“Stay there,” I order, not taking my eyes off the demon-possessed woman.
She doesn’t stir, but that doesn’t mean much. If she were merely a human, I’d think she was down for the count, but she’s not.
There’s a demon fueling her.
Sure enough, her eyes pop open. Orbs of black seated in a red-painted face stare back at me as she gets to her feet.
The sound of bones cracking as she puts weight on her broken ankle makes me wince, but she doesn’t show any signs of pain as she limps forward, her face and one whole side of her body drenched in her own blood.
I’m making a plan as she nears, stoking my magic for one powerful blast. I’m not supposed to shift near humans; it’s the one rule the Order is fastidious about enforcing—keeping the existence of creatures a secret—but I don’t care anymore. I need to keep this monster away from Haven.
I’d shift right now, but the room is too small, so I get ready to hit the woman with a blast of my fire and air magic, and send her through the window. I’ll follow after in my dragon form and finish her off, but suddenly the woman wobbles, and then falls to her knees.
A look of pure rage distorts her features as she tries to struggle to her feet again, but her human body finally starts to give out.
The demon might have supernatural strength, but the human is clearly near death.
I feel a pang of remorse for the woman. She doesn’t deserve this. But the wave of anger toward the demon controlling her swallows the sadness.
The human’s body finally gives out and she collapses, falling to her back.
I inch forward, keeping my magic close to the surface. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know about the double-tap.
From the ground, the demon looks up at me through the woman’s black-shrouded eyes, hate radiating from them. “She’ll be mine one way or another. You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”
Those words bind around my heart and squeeze, causing pain to shoot through me.
“She’ll never be yours,” I growl.
A deep inhuman laugh rumbles the woman’s chest. It may be the most disturbing sound I’ve ever heard, and makes the short hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“If you think that, you’re a fool. The string of bodies I’ll leave in my wake will be on your head.”
Before I can reply, the woman convulses, and like the guy in the woods and the one who broke through the living room window, a stream of thick, black smoke flows from her mouth, twisting up into the air like a serpent, before evaporating.
The woman’s eyes are open, unseeing as they stare straight up, no longer black but a clear blue color I’ll never forget as long as I live.
Crouching down, I reach out and lower her lids.
The bathroom door handle turns and then Haven’s soft steps sound behind me.
“Is she gone?”
Twisting around, I come to my feet. Haven’s standing there with her gaze locked on the dead woman, her eyes filling with unshed tears.
Seeing her pain and sadness makes my chest ache, but I can’t bring myself to regret that the woman is gone. With the demon possessing her, she never would have stopped coming for Haven.
“Grab your stuff,” I say, my voice thick with emotions I can’t quite name. “We have to get out of here.”