Lurking

DELLA

As I’m heading toward the library after class, I see Sorin jogging over to me with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

“What are you up to?” I ask suspiciously.

“I got detention with you tomorrow.” He grins.

“On purpose?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

He puts a hand to his heart like I’ve hurt him. “I would never do such a thing!… Okay, yeah, I did. I caused a small fire in the cafeteria,” he admits.

“Well, we make quite the pair. The psycho and the pyro,” I muse.

~Hide.~

I grip Sorin by the front of his shirt and tug him into an empty classroom nearby just in time to see Caleb walk past, muttering under his breath.

“She was right here…,” I overhear him say before he moves out of earshot.

“What’s that about?” Sorin asks, thankfully keeping his voice a whisper as we watch Caleb wander away down the hall.

“To be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure. There’s so much going on right now; my head is spinning,” I admit.

“What’s going on?” he asks, turning me to face him. He’s so sincere, and I remember the first time I met him. He still has the clearest aura I’ve ever seen.

~Trust.~

“I found out what kind of demon I am, and it apparently comes with some danger. Enough danger that I have to keep it a secret. On top of that, I keep having these visions. The red strings are nothing compared to the last one, and now that skeeze ball is following me. I’m starting to get scared, and I just don’t know what to do anymore, Sorin,” I blurt out.

“Jesus, that’s rough. Maybe I can help?” he asks, bringing me into a warm hug and just holding me. “Tell me about the visions,” he says, so I do.

I tell him about the four red strings and the two shadows that attack me. I tell him about the person planning to use a punisher to kill me. It sounds so insane when I say it out loud.

“Okay, well, the string sounds like the red string of fate,” he figures.

“That’s what Kade said too.” I nod.

“And you already have three out of four.”

“Huh?”

“Kade, Micha, and me.” He grins. Oh. “I think it’s safe to say Caleb might be one of those aggressive shadows. Same with whoever was in your second vision.”

I nod in agreement.

“Do you have any idea who that might be? Anyone who doesn’t like you?”

“Dr. Tenn isn’t a fan of me,” I state.

Sorin snorts a laugh but recovers quickly. “I don’t think it’s him,” Sorin says, trying and failing to smother a grin.

“You asked.”

“I did. Fair enough.” He nods, cradling my cheek in his calloused hand. “Anything else bothering you, my handful?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did I help even a little?”

“Honestly? Yeah. I feel like it’s all more organized now. More manageable,” I explain.

“Good.” He smiles softly, but soon it turns mischievous. “Now, I heard about your striptease in power training yesterday,” he says, his eyes filled with desire.

“It was to shut up some gossiping twats,” I inform him.

“So you stripped?”

“No. They were talking about how ugly my scars were, so I took off my shirt. I still had on more clothing than they did, but I’m betting you didn’t hear that.” I sigh.

“Your scars?” he whispers.

“Yeah.”

“W-would you show me?” he asks gently. I lift my shirt to the bottom of my breasts to show him the mess of my stomach. He gently touches the cross-shaped burn.

“Someone branded you?” he asks.

“Yeah. It was a last-ditch effort at an exorcism,” I say quietly. I settle my shirt back in place, and Sorin just holds me like I’m something precious and not this scarred, broken person. I’m falling hard for him too.

“So, does Micha know all this?” Sorin asks as we leave the empty classroom and start heading toward the library again.

“Only some; I was going to tell him the rest tonight. I still need to tell Kade about the vision I had today.” I sigh. “This is all a little overwhelming, to be honest. I’ve never been like this,” I confess.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I’ve only been with one other guy before you guys. And we dated for a month and a half before we did anything.”

“Really? Maybe it has something to do with the type of demon you are?” He shrugs. “You want all the best males.” He wiggles his eyebrows, making me laugh as we walk through the library doors.

I see Micha sitting in our usual spot. I sneak up behind him and lean down to whisper in his ear. “Whatcha doin’?”

He startles, and his aura turns red before blazing a light pink when he realizes it’s just me.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” I say with a giggle. “I brought reinforcements.” I gesture to Sorin.

“Oh. Great.” It doesn’t sound like he thinks it’s great.

I sit in my regular seat, and Sorin sits across from me. I know he wants more teasing. Shameless.

I bend over, letting him see down my shirt as I search for my glasses in my bag. I hear another wonderful noise from Micha, and I straighten in my seat.

I grab the giant book I was looking at yesterday and heft it onto my lap. Sorin grabs a book from my stack, and I explain that we’re looking for mentions of rare demons and black auras, then we get to work.

After a while, I start to get a little restless. I shift in my seat uncomfortably, trying different positions to get comfortable while I read. After an annoying amount of time, I finally find the perfect position, which is curled with my legs draped over the side of the chair’s arm and the book propped on my knees.

I find the fear demon Professor Coach told me he was. I also find a demon who is all about karma.

“I found something,” Micha says excitedly.

I practically jump over my stack of books to go see, completely missing my mark of the arm of the chair and land straight into his lap. He has to catch me so I don’t hurt anyone.

“Oops, sorry.” I laugh and try to get up, but he holds me there.

“Don’t be,” he mutters as his cheeks turn a dusty pink. He points to the page, and I try to focus as Sorin comes close enough to read over our shoulders. “~Having black in your aura happens when you sin with malicious intent. Black auras are only eaten by Sin-Eater demons~,” Micha reads quietly.

“That’s what I am!” I blurt out in a shocked whisper before I can stop myself. I slap a hand over my mouth, and my eyes dart around the room. Thankfully, no one else was near enough to overhear that dangerous secret.

I stare at Sorin and Micha, wide-eyed for a moment. They stare back at me, eyes just as wide as mine feel, but they say nothing about my accidental confession. The cat is out of the bag now, and there’s no putting it back in. Oh well, I was going to have to tell them about it eventually.

Micha gives me a small reassuring nod, then turns back to the book, dropping his voice even lower. “Hang on, Della. Hang on. There’s more. ‘~Black auras are attached to the soul. They infect. If they spread too far through the soul, the Sin-Eater demon will eat the entire soul~.’ That’s crazy!” Micha laughs with an academic’s enthusiasm before looking back down at me. My excitement, however, is gone.

“Yep. That’s me,” I whisper.

“Fuck. You okay?” His excitement evaporates, and he looks worried.

“Um…yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing I hadn’t already kinda figured out for myself. It’s just different to hear it spelled out like that. But now I know how I kill and why it only happens sometimes,” I say quietly and give him a weak smile.

“Okay. Did you want to take a break?” Sorin suggests.

I nod. “Yeah, I think we’d better. I need to process.”

“Of course.”

I suddenly feel that itch in my head again.

~Hide.~

I stand up quickly and drag Micha and Sorin with me. I shove them behind the nearest bookshelf and cover Micha’s mouth with my hand.

“Shh,” I hiss, staring into his worried copper eyes. He nods.

It’s the same as my vision.

“Dark tendrils and muck,” says a man’s sneering voice. “A damn Sin-Eater… She’s clueless… No, you need to rectify your blunder… You can’t just sleep with anyone!… Oh, I’m sorry, you’re in love with her. Sure… All right. I’ll handle Delaney… Well, she can’t be allowed to exist. A ~demon~ and a celestial?… No, only angels are fit for that. You shouldn’t have procreated with a filthy demon… All right. Sentimental fool. I won’t harm her.” A beep echoes. “I’ll have that punisher do it for me. No one would bat an eye. She’s a demon; it’s his duty.” I hear his footsteps recede and my knees buckle.

Micha catches me before I hit the ground. “Della. Are you all right?” he inquires, brushing my hair away from my face.

I nod. “Who was that?”

“Professor Raziel.”