Chapter 10
Ten
Isabella
"Fading” as Sebastian called it was vastly different from using a portal chip.
I was left mesmerized once again the second time I faded with him.
While porting seemed to happen within a blink of an eye and you just appeared where you wished to go, fading was different.
It was like stepping out of time and coming to a pause in a darkened place.
Once we entered that place, it was just us there, and I had just enough time to study the side of his chin, the bone structure and the slight stubble that wasn’t there yesterday.
Staring at him made my stomach dip to my toes, and a fire burned at my core that his good looks had no business lighting.
It was seconds was all, but it felt like I was looking up at him forever when the light finally came, and we reached his destination.
Sebastian slowly removed his arm where it was wrapped around my waist, my shirt safely separating our skin. He gazed down at me, wondrous and enthralled—an expression I’d never seen anyone else give me before, and he always seemed to be looking at me that way. “Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded, taking another step back. I looked around. “Are we in the human world?”
He smiled and with what distance I made between us; he stole back by grabbing my gloved hand and pulling me forward as he walked through someone’s door like a ghost. I quickly cast a spell over myself so that I could slip through it too.
“We all have a quota of deaths we have to each take care of within a day. Thankfully, my dad has a lot of Reapers or our job would be a lot more difficult.”
I frowned, taking in the woman lying on the hospital bed in the living room. There was silence between her family as they waited. “This is... I don’t see how…” I couldn’t find the right words.
“Sad?” he offered, and I nodded. “It is,” he agreed, stepping away from me. “But it’s also a reminder that things like love still exist in this world today.” He saw my confusion and elaborated. “Look at her family, is that not love?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I saw tears. All kinds of tears. And sadness amongst them. It made me uncomfortable.
“They’re crying because they don’t want to say goodbye.”
The only thing this reminded me of was the things I’d never had.
And just like that, Sebastian took me places across the world and was the guide between life and death, Heaven and Hell.
I witnessed him open the passage to Satan’s flames and my skin was still tingling an hour later when he faded us to a small diner.
I didn’t know the name of the town, but he seemed to be familiar with this place.
We ordered and waited for our food. I took in the retro feel of the diner and decided this place was a reminder of the past in a chaotic present. I liked it because of that.
“You’re quiet.” He leaned back in the booth and observed me.
He wore a dark pair of jeans and a black shirt that hugged the bulging muscles rippling underneath.
I wondered if maybe we looked like a couple to those around us or some sort of gang because of the dark clothes.
At least he had gotten rid of the cloak he wore before coming into the diner.
That would have been awkward… Halloween wasn’t in June.
“It’s been a strange day.” I sighed. “It’s not every day someone forces you to rethink the way you see life and death. So thanks for depressing the shit out of me. I thought I was used to death after working at the hospital for the last year but…”
“That’s actually the tame part, wait ’til you see how we deal with the demons that get too sick for their own good.”
“I doubt that will faze me,” I whispered just as the young waitress placed our food in front of us.
She blushed as she eyed Sebastian. He didn’t seem to notice, but it had me slightly annoyed.
He was too handsome for his own good. Women were subject to feel things they shouldn’t feel for someone they just met, myself included.
Sebastian’s phone dinged just as our waitress walked away.
He checked his text before slipping it back in his pocket.
“That’s good because we might have found our witch.
If not her, at least another one of her hideouts.
” He looked determined if not pissed. “How quick can you eat? We’ve got kids to save. ”
I picked up my spoon and scarfed some mashed potatoes in my mouth. “I’m accustomed to being on the run. I can do anything quickly, no problem.”
His eyes lifted from his plate. “You ever leave any broken hearts behind?”
Shaking my head while eating, I replied. “I don’t date.” Where were my manners again? My voice was so muffled I could barely understand myself.
“Or fuck?”
I choked on my food and had to take a drink of my Sprite. He watched me with hooded eyes.
Not in the last year, I thought to myself.
“Those are serious problems. I think we should fix those, but later.” He took one more bite of his burger before standing up and pulling me out of my seat. “We have to go.”
I bent down and took one more bite of my steak before letting him lead me outside. “Careful not to touch my skin,” I warned him as we walked behind the diner and stopped next to a stinky dumpster. I covered my nose just as he faded us to a new destination.
We were in the Underworld now. There was no sun here and a moon that rarely showed itself and wasn’t even real. I eyed the darkened sky then the spooky mansion in front of us. “Is that where we’re going?” I asked.
He pulled me forward. “Bring out the witchy business. The zapping shit you do,” he said as we walked the chipped concrete steps. “I can’t go saving you. We gotta get these kids out of here. You can go back to top priority afterwards, okay? Try not to get too jealous.”
I sighed. “I can handle myself.” Then muttered under my breath, “You’re the one that brought me.” He gave me the stink-eye before stopping in front of the door.
“I feel a lot of imps and something else,” he whispered, touching the door. “Can you tell me what kind of demon it is?”
I looked back at the door and closed my eyes.
Without words, I let my magic stretch out into the mansion and now my eyes were inside instead of out here with us.
Not literally, but I could see everything as I traveled through the rooms figuratively.
“I don’t see anything,” I told him. “Not even imps.”
“Ohh, they’re in there. I can sense them,” he answered.
I groaned. “Then why aren’t we just going in and taking them out?” I saw another door and opened it. When I did, something roared, and I opened my eyes and gasped. “Okay, there’s definitely something huge in there and he sensed me, so I hope you weren’t planning on doing a sneak attack.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Does it look like I need to sneak?” Sebastian opened the door and all hell broke loose. Imps stepped out of the walls and ceilings. Others flew and crawled over surfaces.
“Ohh.” I smiled up at Sebastian. “That’s where they were.”
“Stay back,” he said, stepping in front of me. A tiny bit of heat crept up my stomach at a time like this. Maybe I had a thing for heroic guys because Sebastian was making me feel things I hadn’t since… Ever.
Twitchy fingers. Twitchy fingers.
The darkness liked him too. It was hard to take my eyes off him when the darkness was begging for me to touch him. Touch and take. Touch. Take.
A huge ass sword materialized in his hand.
He began slicing through the first row of imps at his feet.
Then the next row. Again and again. Seeing him had my own adrenaline rushing, and I used it to blast a few back that were getting close to our right.
Only I noticed Sebastian sway, then stagger in the corner of my vision as I took out more imps.
Turning slowly, I saw him grab his head and turn his attention away from the imps so that he could look at me. “Izzie… you’re gonna have to touch—”
With a defeated grimace, he face-planted onto the stone floor.
His curse couldn’t have happened so quickly, could it?
Right in the middle of this mess? I bent down and picked up his sword, but it was too heavy for me to even swing.
I blasted some imps with my magic instead.
“My hero,” I muttered as I dropped down to my knees beside Sebastian and pushed him on his back.
“More like sleeping beauty,” I whispered as I slowly began to peel off my gloves.
One of the imps that were flying latched onto my hair and began to tug at it.
I blasted it then scrambled back to his side.
“Please work. I kind of like you, Mr. Handsy. I don’t want to hurt you. ”
I touched my palm to his cheek. Heat sparked low in my belly, reaching an epic peak.
I was hot—the orgasmic feel to our touch had me fighting for air and he woke immediately.
He moved faster than I had time to register, his hand seeking out one of mine while his second slid across the back of my neck and pulled me in.
His nose and cheek met the side of my neck and he practically nuzzled me.
I gasped as he blew his breath across my skin.
Something was yanking on my hair again and I was aware imps were jumping all over us and flying around, but I couldn’t separate us.
Sebastian had to be the one because I was in a state of bliss.
He finally pulled away. He yanked the imp from my hair and crushed its neck in his palm. Even that was oddly sexy.