Wasteland (7 page)

“No. Just met him upon my arrival here for my job.”

Gage speared me with a glare. “David—”

“He is assigned to me as my assistant to help me with my research. I do not know him beyond that.”

Finally, she met my gaze, but quickly pushed herself out of the booth and stood before the massive demon. He backed off, ogling her toned body, which in turn made mine tense with anger. Gage will pay for regarding her in such a manner.

I knew I was in trouble for sure if I’d already staked her as mine. And I had done just that, because his lustful gaze triggered my feral sense, which only came out when protecting what I considered mine.

“Where are you going, Beka?”

She moved to my side of the booth and crawled in next to me. “Nowhere. Just wanted to…ah…make room for your friend if he’s staying.” Beneath the table, her toasty hand rested on mine.

Then the reason for her actions hit me. She sensed Gage as a demon, and her Guardian nature took hold, thinking I—a human—needed protection.

CHAPTER 8

“She is working behind the bar, mixing drinks.” Gage strode toward me.

I’d perched myself two blocks from the club at a covered bus stop waiting. “The brother?”

He dipped his head.

“Good. Alert me on my cell phone if they near the entrance to the apartment. I will go in.”

Gage snared my elbow. “Your woman has taken quite a liking to you.”

I twisted from his grasp. “The quicker you let me get into her apartment and have a look, the quicker I might discover something. I am anxious to leave this small town.”

“Are you?”

I stomped away. “I’ll be quick.”

Gage snarled, but I let it roll off my shoulders. Beka had shadowed me since the restaurant, probably worried for my safety from the
demon
she sensed in Gage. Although I enjoyed her company, it made things difficult to investigate and challenged my resolve.

We’d walked through the town, stopping at two shopping malls and three local coffeehouses. The efforts proved futile, but with Beka so close, distracting me, I didn’t have much choice.

Her Guardian nature to love and protect beamed through her entire being. She gave her whole heart to it the way she detected Gage’s demon nature and stood up to the beast before coming to my side at the restaurant.

She was an honorable woman.

I made my way to the roof again under night’s dark cover. No matter what feelings or bodily urges I had for Beka, I still had to find my Mark, which, ironically, was her Mark as well.

Squeaking floorboards announced my arrival to her door. Of course it was locked, so I dug the picking tool out from my back pocket. I should break the lock and make it look like Gage entered. Maybe she would kill him for me.

The metal tool slid from my sweaty hand and clanked against the door. I snatched the tool up and jammed it in the lock until it clicked open. Gage had only shown me this technique hours earlier, and I’d inaccurately doubted its effectiveness.

Crossing the threshold gifted me with the sweet scent of lilac.

Beka.

I had to stay focused on the Mark. It was best for us all. Even if Beka protected me from future demons, she couldn’t protect me from Master calling my contract due. If that happened, I’d be dragged back to the Manor regardless.

Even my strength was no match for the contract binding me to Master.

I eased the door shut behind me. To the left sat a diminutive kitchenette that opened to a living room. To the right, a dark, short hallway lined with four closed doors.

I moved to the end of the hallway and opened the first door.

Bathroom.

The next door opened to a bedroom. Must be Russell’s by the emptiness of the walls and lack of decorations. I’d come back to that one. Finding Beka’s room interested me more.

I creaked open the third door and a thick wave of her scent washed over me. I absorbed the sweet air deeper into my lungs.
Beka
.

A cream-colored comforter covered the twin-sized bed in the left corner of the room. A two-door closet with mirrored panels to the right sat open, and I peered in. Several hangers full of dresses, specifically the red one she’d worn when I first met her.

I brushed my fingers down the shiny fabric. Cool to the touch now. Yet I remembered the warmth radiating from her body when she had stood near me that night.

“No.” I bit my cheek hard enough to draw the metallic taste of blood. Without touching anything more, I backed out from the closet.

A wooden, corner desk housed a laptop computer.
Let that hold some answers.
Two steps brought me to the desk, and I lifted the cover. The screen jumped to life. No password needed to open the home screen.
Trusting.
A picture of her and Russell, hugging, surrounded by snow. Her long, blond hair cascaded from beneath a pink cap. Her cheeks and nose a rosy red.

I swiped my finger over the square touch pad and guided the cursor to the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen and clicked. A rectangle search box appeared, and I typed,
Jessica Hanks
.

The computer brought two files to the forefront, and my stomach flipped. Beka had found information on Jessica.

I eased onto the padded leather desk chair, the wood creaking beneath my weight, and double clicked the first folder. A document opened with a picture of a freckle-faced girl. Possibly four or five years old. Straight red hair cut below her ears. She held the hand of a taller woman, with matching red hair.

Must be Jessica and her mother. I imprinted the chestnut brown eyes into my memory along with the pale, skin and pudgy cheeks.

I exited the document and opened the next. Another picture. Same girl, same age, standing near a gravestone, holding the hand of a plump, dark-haired woman with a ramrod straight back. But there was a caption to this picture.

I leaned in, squinting to read the fine print

“She will change the face of the earth. Find her. –G.”

Who is G?

I clicked out from the documents and stared at Beka’s picture again. I feathered my finger along the screen, just below her chin and couldn’t help the smile twitching my lips.
If only…

My limited knowledge of computers left me no other choice than to close the screen. I’d gotten enough. I now knew what Jessica looked like. Despite the years that had past, I would pick out her eyes in a crowd.

I opened the top left drawer to the desk. A mirror, some lipstick, and a hair brush. I picked up the brush and brought it to my face.

Mmm. My Beka.

I shoved the grooming device into my back pocket. Alarms rang like a bell tower gong in my head about my growing affection for the Guardian, but I didn’t care. Soon, I would find my Mark and leave, but with the brush in my possession, I’d always have a part of Beka.

I arranged the chair to its original position and glanced to the left. The covers on her bed were peeled back, as if she’d gotten up and forgotten to make it. One step brought me to her bedside, and I knelt down. The pillow, still dented from the weight of her head, emitted her scent. I closed my eyes and pictured her in my arms, snuggled close to me in restful sleep. Soft, blond hair draped over my bare chest, the sheets tousled from making love.

Mine.

The rumblings of my demon sliced through my fantasy, and I stood on shaky legs. I gave one last scan of the room, then backed out and closed the door. Three strides carried me to the last door. The handle didn’t give when I cranked it. I knew this to be the room with the tinted window since it was next to the living room.

I dug out my picking tools and tried, without success, to disengage the lock. If I forced my way in, Beka and Russell would know someone had been there. They would probably blame Gage because of his demon status, but I might be implicated because I knew him.

A risk to be taken to get the Mark.

I jerked the handle. It gave. I pushed the door open and a stale, metallic laced darkness met me. Black walls, ceiling and floor. My phone pulsated in my pocket, and I yanked it out.

Get out.

I stole a gander into the room. Small bed. Teddy bear on the floor. Nothing else.

“Shit.”

My heart pounded as I closed the broken door and burst out of the apartment. I shut the main entrance and engaged the lock, then hurried through the roof access door but stayed close to listen.

“Beka, I need your help tonight,” Russell said, following her through the doorway on the far end of the hallway. “Stacia called in sick.”

Beka strode forward, tall and confident, dressed in a white dress that ended above her knees.

“I can’t. I must locate David. I haven’t seen him this evening. I fear he’s in danger from his associate Gage. The demon left, and I couldn’t get away to try and vanquish him.”

“So, Gage was the one I sensed in the club before, not David.” Russell tilted his head to the side. “I wouldn’t have guessed. I thought I sensed it with him as well.”

“No. It was not David. Gage is after Jessica. We must find her quickly.” She shoved the key into the door. “But first, as Guardian, I must protect the human, David. Our paths crossed for a reason. I believe that.”

Russell curled his fingers around his sister’s elbow. “It’s more than that for you, Beka, I can tell.”

“No,” she whispered. “It’s not.”

“You love him.”

Electricity pulsed through my body at the word love. She could not love me.

She rested her forehead against the door. “I’ve never felt such an intense connection like this before, Russell. I can’t explain it, but there is something about him.”

“Fight it, Beka. We must find Jessica and get her to safety. You cannot get distracted from the mission.”

Beka thrust open the door. “You’re right. But—” She palmed her forehead. “You’re right, Russell. Thank you for your loyalty, for protecting me. But please, allow me leave to check on David first. The demon works with him somehow. He’s in danger.”

Russell squeezed Beka’s shoulder. “I understand.”

“Then I will be back to help you.”

They disappeared into the apartment. No shrieks or anything, so they must not have noticed my intrusion.

But they would eventually.

I shut the door and scrubbed my face with my hands.
She couldn’t love me. She knew nothing of what I was. No way Light could be with darkness
.

I had to find Jessica before Beka and Russell so I could finish this assignment and leave. But locating a fifteen-year-old girl at a dance club didn’t make sense. Something felt off.

Time to push Gage for answers, because if Jessica Hanks really could change the world, she might be powerful enough to get me out of my contract.

Yes. Definitely time to press Gage.

And I intended to press hard.

CHAPTER 9

“Please tell me you found something,” Gage said.

“I found something.” I strode by him and into the parking lot of a brightly lit gas station.

Two cars were parked near the entrance and one at a pump. A young woman propped against her car held the hose to her gas tank while tapping her phone. Otherwise, the station was relatively quiet.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I kept moving, slowly allowing my demonic side to surface. This time, I would challenge Gage and see it through. He would tell me everything he knew or meet death. Too many things reeked of set up. Two Guardians protecting the girl, Master releasing me from punishment five years early, and issuing a six-hundred-year-old demon to babysit instead of the usual low-level demons.

“David, get back here. I must report your findings.”

I grumbled. Searing hot nails pierced my heart. Hair prickled on my arms and up my spine. My fingernails darkened and grew to pointed ends as I neared the darkness beside the gas station.

My eyesight sharpened and fastened on a cat perched on the dark green dumpster beside a door to the stucco building. I let a hiss slide past my fangs, and the feline scampered across the top, its nails scratching the plastic cover.

“David—”

I pivoted, wrapped my fingers around Gage’s throat and lifted him in the air. With one swift movement I rammed him into the wall, pinning him a foot from the ground. Bricks crumbled at the impact, dusting the tops of my shoes and clattering to the asphalt.

The smoky scent of Gage’s anger plowed over me, and my demon’s bellow echoed off the walls flanking us.

His eyes went black. Then his skin darkened, and his fangs slid from beneath his top lip. A hand came down on my elbow, and he swiped at my face. I met his blow with my forearm, but kept my grip.

I snapped my canines, glaring at him directly in the eye. Blood raged through my veins, pumping me full of the demon’s confidence. “Tell me everything.”

“I know nothing.” His nails grated my cheek.

With my free hand I drew my blade and held it to his neck. But at the same time a prick stung my side below my rib.

“Not so good after all.” Gage snickered.

“You’re not too bright, are you?”

He bared his teeth. Veins bulged at his temples, and his nostrils flared.

“My blade is at your neck. Yours, at my side. Which is lethal?”

His tense face softened as realization dawned on him. Demons were killed by beheading.

I pressed the silver blade to his throat. Blood beaded.

“You can’t kill me.” Gage’s voice cracked.

“I think I can. And I will if you do not start talking.” I eased him to his feet, keeping him in check with my growl and my fingers squeezing his neck. “It is I you cannot kill.”

“I could try.”

“You would fail. Why did Master really send me here?”

“The Mark.” Gage squirmed.

I loosened my grip. “And . . . .”

“And what, David? It’s always about a Mark. The next demon, nothing else. Same as always.” He batted my arm away and advanced.

His blade slashed my stomach. Burning pain crept up my side. My dagger penetrated his neck, and black blood spewed from the cut. I hadn’t exerted the pressure needed to sever the head, but enough to make an impression.