Torment (23 page)

“She was so angry with you,” he told me. “I really thought she was going to send you…I don't know what I would have done. I can’t stand the thoughts of someone hurting you, and nobody in this realm or any other is allowed to touch you other than me. If any of them had laid a single finger on you…”

“I know, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I don't want to hurt you, or frighten you, and it seems like that's all I’ve ever done. I won’t ever do it again I swear,” I told him.

“It’s not
all
you’ve ever done at all. Don't think that,” he said before kissing me for a moment. “Just promise me that next time you want to do something stupid, you’ll talk to me about it first. You can trust me you know.”

“I know, and I promise.”

“I don't ever want to feel like that again.”

“I won’t let you,” I told him before kissing him again.

“You know, I loved you before you even knew who I was, before you even knew I existed,” he told me when the kiss ended.

“I don't understand how could you?”

“Well, about a year ago, that’s a year ago in Earth time; I walked in and saw Lilith watching you through the viewing pool. You were sitting at a table drawing something out; it looked like plans for a room or something. As soon as I saw you…you blew me away. Lilith saw me staring at you and stopped using the pool. I asked her why she was watching you and who you were.”

“What did she say?”

“She just told me you were a person of interest and that you had a strong power in you. She told me your name and asked me to keep an eye on you for a few weeks while she went away somewhere. I don't know where, before you ask. She said if you got in trouble I had to come to Earth and help you, so I watched you almost every day for over two weeks.”

“All the time?” I asked wide-eyed.

“No, not all the time.”

“When, what did you see?”

“I saw you in the shower and…”

“What!” I said in shock.

“I’m kidding, I saw you designing someone’s house for them, and I saw you with Lily. You were out in a bar somewhere and I watched you both dancing. It was the night before Lilith returned. I saw a guy buy you a drink and then I watched you kiss him. I got a shooting pain in my chest and I instantly wanted to kill him. That was when I knew…I knew I had feelings for you,” he said, looking me in the eyes to see how I reacted.

I just lay there, smiling at him and running my fingers slowly up and down his back.

“I spent weeks and weeks trying to get you out of my head. I didn’t go to the viewing pool and I didn’t mention you to Lilith. Then she called out to me and she was in the little room again, watching you. She saw me staring at you again and smiled at me. She said, “You like her, don't you?” I couldn’t lie to her; she always knows when I’m lying, so I confessed. She said you were very special, so I asked her why and that’s when she told me you were her daughter.”

“What did you say to that?”

“What
could
I say? I’d already told her you’d more than caught my attention, but I’d also told her that I knew I couldn’t have you. You lived here; I lived in Hell. Plus, I looked at myself in the mirror; I didn’t think you would give me the time of day. Part of me didn’t want to meet you, not just because of the scar, but because I didn’t understand why, after over four thousand years, I had fallen in love with someone I’d never even spoken to. Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when Lilith asked me to protect you. I was excited, nervous, frightened, all things I hadn't felt before. She told me she’d asked me first for two reasons. Firstly because she trusts me more than anyone, and secondly, because she thought it was about time I actually liked someone, and she wanted me to meet you in person.”

“So you accepted the “protector” position, hid yourself, and came to me?”

“Yeah, after nearly talking myself out of it over a dozen times. And now look, I’ve got you in my arms,” he said, pulling me close to him. “I never for one minute thought I would get close to you, never mind actually be with you.”

“You never seemed nervous when you were with me, you always seemed so confident, and sarcastic.”

“I did a good job hiding it then. I was quite frightened. I didn’t want you to reject me; I wanted you to love me. I just couldn’t tell you that, not when you hadn't seen the real me.”

“I think I was born to love you,” I told him.

“Well, you took your time coming here. I’ve waited my whole life for you,” he said, stroking my face again.

“Was I worth the wait?” I asked, smiling cheekily.

“Definitely.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Thoughts and Dreams

It’s strange what life throws at you. At the beginning of this year I was living in West Chester, with a good job, my best friend was moving in and all was peaceful. I lived my life the same as any other human being. Sure there were bad times, but there were also great times. Then suddenly life takes you out of your normal routine, and throws you in at the deep end of something you never for one minute imagined could be possible. Your life changes completely –sometimes you wonder why?! Why did it happen to you? Why couldn’t you have just been allowed to carry on as before? Where you didn’t constantly have to be on your guard and looking over your shoulder every two minutes, waiting for someone or something to attack you. To try to kill you.

Don’t get me wrong, in a way I’m glad all this happened. I know that must sound strange, but now, I’ve got a family, well; I’m now part of five families. Four on Earth and one in Hell. I’ve got more friends than I’ve ever had before, and, although one of them really winds me up, I wouldn’t swap them for the world. My best friend has found love and, despite everything that's going on around her, she’s happy.

I’ve found out more about myself, some of which I wish I hadn't found out. Like how my ancestor was greedy and wanted more power, and how he involved my friends’ families. If he hadn't, OK we probably wouldn’t have ever met, but they wouldn’t have been involved in this. They could have led normal and happy lives, had families of their own and not had to worry about being attacked, or worse. None of them had to know what was really out there. I know none of them would change how they are, but sometimes I think they only say that to keep me happy.

Thinking this makes me sound like I hate who and what I am. I don't. I love being me, I love having these powers in me and being able to do so many crazy things. I love being here with everyone; I love them all for different reasons. I love my new house, the families, the town, everything. But most of all I love the guy lying next to me. Now, if you had told me only a few months ago that I would I fall in love with someone who loved me back, as much as he does…I would have laughed at you. I would have said, ‘Yeah OK, I’ll believe it when I see it.’ If you had told me that a demon would have come to protect me from someone who wanted to wipe us all out, I would have thought you needed locking up. I never thought for one minute I would fall in love with someone as much as I’d fallen in love with Eligos. I thought this kind of love only existed in books and in the movies. But it does exist, and it’s amazing. I have a demon lying next to me, who is over four and a half thousand years old, who has never had feelings for anyone before. Yet he loves
me
. I must have done something right in a past life, that's all I can say. Why else would I have been given such an amazing guy, such a gorgeous, loving guy?

Eligos was lying asleep next to me, his arm around my waist, and his hair slightly falling over his face. I’d been staring at him now for about half an hour. We’d been together over a month, in Earth time, and I still couldn’t stop staring at him. Everything had been perfect for us these last few weeks. Tyler hadn't picked a fight with him, I hadn't upset him at all, and nothing had tried to kill any of us. It was as though everything bad that was happening had stopped, and we were being allowed to be happy for a while. I lay there stroking his arm.

“You’re staring at me again,” he said, keeping his eyes closed but smirking.

“I know,” I giggled.

“Why do you do that?”

“I can’t help it; I love looking at you.”

“You’re strange, do you know that?”

“Yes, but you love me, so you’ll just have to put up with it.”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling me closer to him. “How long have you been awake?”

“I dunno, about half an hour I think.”

“What do you think about when you’re lying there, staring at me?” he asked, opening his beautiful eyes.

“I think about everything that’s going on and how different my life is these days.”

“Are you happy?”

“I’m happy with you.”

“But? I know there’s a “but” coming,” he told me.

“But I just wish everything could be normal.”

“I wouldn’t have been sent here if it was.”

“I mean normal now. I wish that whoever was starting this war would suddenly give up and piss off.”

“I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time here with you.”

“I’d come to you,” I said, kissing him on his cheek.

“How, you’ve got life in you remember.”

“Yeah, and I can stop that.”

“Don't talk like that, Keira; you’d miss Earth if you were away from it for a long time.”

“I could come back whenever I wanted.”

“And do what?” he said, turning so he was lying on his back. “Watch your friends get old and die around you. See how the land and the people in it changed. Watch everything you once knew and loved disappear. Living forever…it’s quite sad at times.”

“Sadly I’m going to have to do that anyway, and it sounds like you don't want me around forever,” I told him.

“Don't be stupid, of course I do. I told you when we first got together I wanted you forever. I just want you to know what to expect.”

“I know, and I know it will be heart breaking, but my friends will go to Heaven together;
they
will have each other. And
we’ll
have each other.”

He pulled me over to him. I lay with my head on his chest and my arm around him. He was right. When they were in their eighties, I would still look twenty-two. And in the end I would have to watch all my friends die. I didn’t like thinking about it; they were all still young and had the rest of their lives in front of them, or at least I hoped they did.

“What time is it?” he asked me.

“Nine a.m.,” I said, looking at my watch.

“Have you slept in that?”

“Yeah, well, I was kinda busy when I got in bed last night, so I forgot to take it off,” I said, leaning up to look at him. He didn’t say anything he just got a massive smirk on his face. It caused me to get butterflies in my stomach. “You might as well smirk; I’m going to be tired all day because of you.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he teased, the smirk turning into a cheeky smile. “Anyway, just go back to sleep.”

“I can’t! I’m awake now, but I’ll be dead later.”

“Well, then I suggest you shut your eyes for a while later then.”

“Or maybe just have an early night tonight?”

“I’m up for that,” he grinned.

“I meant to sleep,” I said, grinning myself.

“Oh, right, no sorry that’s not a good enough reason to have an early night.”

“You know, knowing how you are with me, it kinda makes it hard to believe that you went over four thousand years without sex.”

“I’m making up for it. But if I hadn't met you, I would have gone forever without it. I’m only like this because you drive me crazy. It’s all
your
fault.”

“Hey, don't blame me,” I said, giving him a playful shove.

“Why not? It’s the truth,” he laughed. “And you start it half the time. Besides you could always push me away.”

“Oh yeah course I could,” I said, getting comfortable on him again.

“It’s not my fault you can’t say no.”

“I’m going to practice saying that word from now on.”

“Are you really? We’ll see.”

We lay there for another ten minutes or so, just holding each other. Then there was a knock on the door.

“Keira, Eligos, do you want breakfast?” Lily shouted.

“Yes,” we both shouted.

“OK, it’ll be about fifteen minutes.”

“Right! “I shouted back to her.

I looked up at Eligos again; he looked as though he was in REM. A sure sign someone from Hell was talking to him.

“Lilith wants to see you,” he told me once he opened his eyes.

“Oh God!” I said as my stomach sank.

“Keira, it’s been weeks since the disagreement; I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I know, but I haven’t seen her or spoken to her since.”

“Just go as you normally would, act like nothing’s happened. That’s what I would do.”

“OK, we’ll go after breakfast.”

We both got up, and got washed and dressed before heading down to the kitchen.

“That was good timing,” Lily said, passing us a plate of food each. “Go and sit down. Jake’s in the dining room. I’ll come through in a moment.”

We sat down with Jake, who didn’t look very happy.

“Are you OK?” I asked him after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah.”

“Liar.”

“He won’t tell you,” Lily said, walking in and sitting next to him. “He won’t tell me.”

“Out with it, Jake, come on,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Jake, come on, if we were like this you would want us to talk to you,” Lily told him.

“I just…I just keep having really bad dreams; that's all it is,” he said before sipping his coffee.

“About what?” Eligos asked him. “Obviously there affecting you so…”

“They’re not nice. Places are being destroyed, people are dying, and I can’t do anything to stop it.”

“Do you think that what happened at Point Reyes Station is playing on your mind?” I asked him.

“Maybe. It only started a few days after hearing about it .I just can’t seem to shake it. But we saw pictures of the place on the TV, and it doesn’t look like that in the dream.”

“What does it look like?” Lily asked him.

“A big town, not somewhere small like Point Reyes. There were tall buildings and hotels, lots of them,” Jake said, rubbing his eyes. “It felt so real.”